15 Gay Founding Fathers, Mothers, and their straight allies
01/18/17
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln sculpted on Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota
YellowCroc Photography/Shutterstock
While acceptance of LGBTQ+ people may feel like it only hit its stride in recent years and may have even taken a step back in the second administration of Pres. Donald Trump, homosexuality and same-sex sexual relationships have always been a part of the fabric of America’s history.
Throughout our nation’s developmental years, many well-known Americans partook in same-sex hookups and relationships, and even straight leaders of the day showed a level of tolerance that ought to make Trump think twice about his recent slew of executive orders.
Here’s a look at some of the nation’s LGBTQ+ architects, from the earliest colonial days to the Civil War.
1. Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Was Alexander Hamilton bisexual?
While the romance didn’t make it into the Broadway show, Alexander Hamilton maintained a sexually suspect relationship for years with fellow revolutionary John Laurens.
“'Till you bade us Adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you,” Hamilton wrote in one letter to Laurens.
“In drawing my picture, you will no doubt be civil to your friend; mind you do justice to the length of my nose,” Hamilton wrote in another letter to Laurens, using code to describe the length of his manhood.
The relationship between the men continued until Laurens died in battle in 1782.
Hamilton, of course, also held genuine love for his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler, and once had to publicly apologize for an affair with Mary Reynolds, but plenty of documentation about the relationship with Laurens indicates America’s first Treasury secretary was bisexual.
2. George Washington
George Washington
No, our nation’s first President George Washington was almost certainly not gay, but he was a revolutionary ally and surrogate father figure to suspected young gay men like the Marquis de Lafayette, John Laurens, and others.
Standing at six-feet-two-inches when most others were a good foot shorter, Washington towered over other men making him an attractive father figure. He was also a Freemason, the mysterious group whose secret rituals reportedly included group sodomy using wooden spikes for penetration.
And, of course, Washington had a complete set of dentures and knew how to fill out his uniform, making him a Revolutionary dreamboat to this day.
3. Friedrich von Steuben
A stamp bearing the likeness of Friedrich von Steuben
A Prussian military officer recruited by Benjamin Franklin and who in his role as Gen George Washington’s personal choice as Inspector General brought discipline, training, and tactical skills to a demoralized Continental Army,, Baron Friedrich von Steuben is now generally regarded as the most flaming of our Founding Fathers.
Born into a military family who saw battle before he reached manhood, the Prussian daddy in uniform carried a lifelong adoration of young, single, and possibly gay men and military officers. He was once accused of the “vicious rumor” of having “taken familiarities with young boys” while in the Prussian army. He also was a reported regular at a notorious Parisian gay bathhouse, the Pot-de-vin.
The Baron brought his 17-year-old secretary and suspected lover Peter Stephen Du Ponceau with him to the U.S. in 1777 (as well as Azor, his beloved pet Italian Greyhound dog). He also reportedly hooked up with two 20-something officers at Valley Forge, Benjamin Walker and William North. He later adopted both men and North became his lifelong partner. The Baron was even rumored to have been involved with Charles Adams, son of Pres. John Adams, and the legendary Frederick the Great (and Frederick’s younger brother Prince Henry).
4. Charles Adams
Charles Adams was the son of President John Adams
Charles Adams, the son of our nation’s second President, John Adams, and the younger brother of our nation’s sixth President, John Quincy Adams, never quite lived up to the historic accomplishments of his more famous relations, and the company he kept in life led many to question his sexual identity.
Although he was married with two daughters, Charles was known more for his love of personal excess, alcohol abuse, and extramarital sexual relationships reportedly with members of both sexes. He was kicked out of Harvard at age 15 after he and several of his classmates were caught running drunk and naked through Harvard Yard, although he was later readmitted. The event is now remembered as the first Primal Scream, where students streak across campus just prior to final exams, although the historical accuracy of the claim is questionable at best.
Charles later shared an intense personal relationship and residence with John W. Mulligan, a lawyer who served as the personal secretary to Baron Friedrich von Steuben. The pair moved in with the Baron after Charles’s father John Adams disapproved of both the relationship and living arrangements.
Sadly, Charles was eventually disowned by his father, and he died at the age of 30 while his father was still President.
“He was no man’s enemy but his own,” his mother Abigail Adams wrote of her son’s poor financial choices and hedonistic lifestyle.5. Pierre Charles L’Enfant
Pierre Charles L’Enfant designed Washington, D.C.
Part of George Washington’s inner circle, the Frenchman Pierre Charles L’Enfant would become the architect of the nation’s capital in the 1790s, as documented in The Making of Urban America by John William Reps (Princetown University Press).
Bob Arnebeck wrote in his book, Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790-1800 (Madison Books), that the planner fell out of favor with the first President and others, and was eventually fired for his serial insubordination and for “transgressing sexual boundaries.”
“Major L’Enfant (who it is said is performing wonders at the new town of Patterson [New Jersey]) if he could have been restrained within proper bounds and his temper was less untoward, is the only person with whose turn to matters of this sort I am acquainted, that I think fit for it,” Washington dished on L’Enfant in a personal letter.
6. John Laurens
Revolutionary War hero John Laurens
One of the earliest American leaders fighting against the practice of slavery also knew the challenges of being ostracized. John Laurens found success as a military aide to Gen. George Washington, but he was renowned for recruiting slaves to become soldiers in the Continental Army, where they could fight to gain their freedom. His intimate personal correspondence with Alexander Hamilton reveals to historians that the two men were likely lovers, with the two patriots remaining close until Laurens died in battle in 1782.
7. Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
Historians have long viewed the relationship between George Washington and Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, as a surrogate father and son. A more modern (and wishful) reading of some of their correspondence, however, suggests that Lafayette desired more from Washington than a mere platonic friendship.
“From those happy ties of friendship by which you were pleased to unite yourself with me, from the promises you so tenderly made me when we parted at Fishkill, gave me such expectations of hearing often from you, that complaints ought to be permitted to my affectionate heart,” complaining he feels ignored in a 1799 letter to Washington, adding that, “Not a line from you, my dear general, has yet arrived into my hands.”
While the Marquis might have slept with other men, he was most likely bisexual and almost certainly not gay. Despite being happily married, he also engaged in numerous well-publicized and often scandalous relationships with members of the opposite sex.
8. Betsy Ross
Betsy Ross
Depending on one's belief in the supernatural, this one may stretch credulity.
Medium Susan Lander believes that Betsy Ross, the maker of the first American flag, would be flying a rainbow Pride flag if she were alive today.
In a 2014 interview with The Advocate’s sister publication, Out, Lander claimed that Ross came out to her in a psychic conversation.
“I am gay, and I fly the flag of Pride and liberty for all of us,” Lander claimed Ross told her.
Lander also said Ross revealed she was part of an underground gay and lesbian community in the late 18th century. Sounds like a sapphic revolution.
9. Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin
Was Ben Franklin gay?
“Perhaps themost accomplished, charismatic, and internationally renowned of all the Founding Fathers, the serial philanderer Benjamin Franklin may not have been gay himself but he showed tremendous empathy for homosexuals of the time.
While serving as ambassador to France, it was Franklin who recruited strategist Baron Friedrich von Steuben to provide his expertise to the rebellion, despite knowing of the soldier’s sexual identity. Letters reported in the Washington Blade reveal that part of Franklin’s motivation was the fear Von Steuben could face prosecution for sodomy in Europe and that an extended stay in America could provide sanctuary.
Taking a more daring interpretation, in the first volume of his three-part American People book series (Picador), AIDS activist and writer Larry Kramer lists Franklin among the American historical figures he believes were gay (along with Washington and Mark Twain), so maybe Franklin was more than just an ally.
10. The Jamestown Settlers
The Jamestown Settlers
Richard Godbeer, author of The Sexual Revolution in Early America (John Hopkins University Press) notes that Jamestown was originally established as an all-male settlement, and he expresses skepticism that an entire isolated colony of men would be able to remain celibate over an extended period and under such harsh conditions. He notes that many of the men paired off to form households in the 17th-century Chesapeake area and says it seems reasonable to assume many of those folks were coupling sexually as well.
11. William Rufus Devane King
William Rufus Devane King
The first U.S. senator from Alabama, William Rufus Devane King is considered by many to have been the nation’s first gay vice president, according to the Washington Blade. He and James Buchanan lived together in a boarding house or “mess” in the earliest days of Washington D.C. and shared a lifelong, deeply personal correspondence when not together.
Texas Christian University professor Paul F. Boller Jr. saysWashington insiders in their day gossiped that the distinguished gentlemen were more than roommates, using slurs like “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy” and derisively referring to King as “Buchanan’s wife.”
The two men hoped to one day run on the same ticket, raising the possibility of the first gay President and Vice President. The slave-owning Rufus and Buchanan, a “doughface” or Northern supporter of slavery in the South, were never able to realize their goal, as, in 1853, King died just 25 days after being sworn in as Franklin Pierce’s vice president.
12. Thomas Morton
Thomas Morton
Well before the American Revolution, Plymouth Colony non-traditionalist Thomas Morton committed a different sort of revolutionary act, according to Michael Bronski’s A Queer History of the United States. Morton broke off from the colony and seized control of the failed settlement of Merrimount. Under his leadership, the community affirmed same-sex desires and interracial marriages, and with much dancing and celebration erected an 80-foot “Maypole of Merry Mount”decorated with garlands and ribbons, shocking the prudish values of the era.
13. James Buchanan
James Buchanan
Pennsylvania’s James Buchanan was the 15th president of the United States and while considered a successful Secretary of State for Pres. James Polk, he is regarded as perhaps the worst President in our nation’s history. There’s also been much speculation about whether he was also the country’s gayest President.
During his lifetime, political opponents questioned his lifelong bachelorhood and unusually intimate friendship with fellow politician, senator, diplomat, and Democrat William Rufus King of Alabama. The pair infamously lived together for numerous years, a politically powerful living arrangement that raised many eyebrows and questions about the true nature of their relationship.
The pair corresponded regularly when apart. On one such occasion, Buchanan wrote: "I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them."
Out author Thomas J. Balcerski wrote about Buchanan and King in Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King (Oxford University Press). An assistant professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University, Balcerski told The Advocate he does not see enough evidence to suggest that Buchanan was gay, but that his political opponents did not share his opinion and made good use of the issue at the time.
“The bosom friendship of Buchanan and King was given extra scrutiny precisely because of its potential political consequences. That their political enemies did all they could to defeat them should not surprise,” Balcerski told The Advocate in 2019, later adding, “Generally speaking, these insults were levied privately in the correspondence of their opponents. When the language did appear in print, it was often in the columns of the opposition party's newspapers.”
14. Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln’s sexuality has been questioned publicly for a century and a half.
Most notably, Lincoln appeared to have a long-running relationship with Joshua Speed, with whom he shared a small bed in an attic above Speed’s shop for years. Historian C.A. Tripp delves into this and other relationships, including suggestions that Lincoln also regularly shared a bed with a bodyguard while President in The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln.
Shaun Peterson’s controversial2024 documentary Lover of Men uses never-before-seen photographs and letters to assert that Lincoln engaged in same-sex sexual relationships with four “dashing” and “daring” men: Billy Greene, Elmer Ellsworth, David Derickson, and Speed.
“This was lust at first sight,” Michael Chesson of the University of Massachusetts at Boston claims in the film.
15. Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake
Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake
These daughters of the American Revolution may be remembered as one of the United States's first same-sex unions.
Charity Bryant was banished by her father from her family home at the age of 20, perhaps because of her then-scandalous sexual identity. She traveled across Massachusetts until she met Sylvia Drake. The two women almost immediately became inseparable, according to Rachel Hope Clever in her book Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America. Bryant and Drake moved in together in 1807 and later opened a tailor shop.
They stayed a couple until Bryant died in 1851.
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