THE FOLKS IN CONGRESS

Adonis by Henry Oliver Walker - Library of Congress

In the USA, the Library of Congress is the research arm of Congress.

Henry Oliver Walker (1843–1929) was an American painter.

His works include a series of paintings honouring various poets for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Ganymede by Henry Oliver Walker - Library of Congress

Adonis by Henry Oliver Walker - Library of Congress

Lyric Poetry by Henry Oliver Walker - Library of Congress

Reportedly, boys have always been popular with the folks in the US Congress.

Reportedly (Congressional Sex Scandals in History):

In 1973, Rep. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.) had sexual relationships with a teenage congressional page. Studds acknowledged he was gay.

In 1978, Rep. Fred Richmond (D-N.Y.) was arrested in Washington for soliciting sex from a 16-year-old boy.

In 1980, Rep. Jon Hinson (R-Miss.) announced that in 1976 he had been accused of committing an obscene act at a gay haunt in Virginia.

Musa Regina by Henry Oliver Walker

In 1980, Rep. Robert Bauman (R-Md.), a leading "pro-family" conservative, pleaded innocent to a charge that he committed oral sodomy on a teenage boy in Washington.

Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat, hired a male prostitute who ran a prostitution service from Frank’s residence in the 1980s.

Chapter -XXI- Omaha (Bush book: Chapter -21- ):

"On the morning of June 29, 1989, pandemonium erupted in the corridors of power in the nation's capital. Homosexual Prostitution Probe Ensnares Official of Bush, Reagan, screamed the front-page headline of the Washington Times with the kicker Call Boys Took Midnight Tour of White House.

"The Times reported, 'A homosexual prostitution ring is under investigation by federal and District authorities and includes among its clients key officials of the Reagan and Bush administrations, military officers, congressional aides and U.S. and foreign businessmen with close ties to Washington's political elite'....

"Rumors circulated that a list existed of some 200 Washington prominents who had used the call boy service."

Abraham Lincoln

"The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln", By C. A. Tripp, edited by Lewis Gannett, refers to Lincoln's sexual interest in males.

Trip argues that Lincoln's relationships with women were not deep.

In 1831, when he was 22, Lincoln moved to New Salem, Illinois, and met Billy Greene.

Lincoln shared a bed with Greene.

Greene said of Lincoln's body: ''His thighs were as perfect as a human being could be.''

When Lincoln moved to Springfield, Illinois, he became close friends with Joshua Speed, a young store owner.

Earlier biographers, Nicolay and Hay, described Speed as the only intimate friend that Lincoln ever had.

Lincoln and Speed shared a double bed in Speed's store for four years.

Some of Lincoln's letters to Speed are signed ''Yours forever.''

In 1836 Lincoln began courting Mary Owens. In 1837 Owens ended the relationship.

Lincoln wrote: ''I knew she was oversize, but now she appeared a fair match for Falstaff.''

In 1842, Lincoln married Mary Todd and they had 4 children. Tripp suggests Mary had a psychopathic personality. With Mary, Lincoln was 'remote' and 'unavailable'. Lincoln is reported to have been terrified of the idea of marrying Mary.

Eros et Musa by Henry Oliver Walker

When Lincoln became president, he met Col. Elmer Ellsworth described by Lincoln as ''the greatest little man I ever met.''

Lincoln brought Ellsworth into his Springfield lawoffice and then made him part of his presidential campaign. As war approached, Ellsworth was given a top military post. When Ellsworth was killed, Lincoln was deeply upset.

In 1862-3, Capt. David Derickson was one of Lincoln's bodyguards in DC.

According to Derickson's regiment's history, Derickson ''advanced so far in the president's confidence and esteem that in Mrs. Lincoln's absence he frequently spent the night at his cottage, sleeping in the same bed with him, and - it is said - making use of his Excellency's night shirt!''

Early biographers of Lincoln, such as Carl Sandburg, wondered about Lincoln's homosexuality.

Sandburg wrote: "Month by month in stacks and bundles of fact and legend, I found invisible companionships that surprised me. Perhaps a few of these presences lurk and murmur in this book."

Sandburg wrote that Lincoln and Joshua Speed had "streaks of lavender, spots soft as May violets."

Lincoln's stepmother said of Lincoln: "He was not very fond of girls, as he seemed to me."

Lincoln's fellow lawyer Henry C. Whitney observed once that Lincoln "wooed me to close intimacy and familiarity."

Lincoln produced a humorous ballad in 1829:

But Biley has married a boy
The girles he had tried on every Side
But none could he get to agree
All was in vain he went home again
And sens that he is married to natty.

In 1990, the American Historical Association presented a panel on "Gay American Presidents? — Washington, Buchanan, Lincoln..."

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