Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not accepting the premise that the United States has never had a gay president.
The Bronx-born Congresswoman was stopped on Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon, where Charlie asked her which milestone she thinks will happen first: a woman in the Oval Office or a gay president at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Ocasio-Cortez’s answer was less about prediction than correction. She said the question assumes something that may not be true, namely that every president so far has been straight.
She did not offer a name, but the subject has been explored before, most notably around Abraham Lincoln. Books and documentaries have examined speculation about the 16th president’s relationships with men, including the documentary Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln.
The Lincoln Question Is Already On Screen
That film, directed by Shaun Peterson, argues that Lincoln’s private life has been flattened by traditional history and that his relationships with men deserve closer scrutiny. Peterson appeared on TMZ Live in 2024 to discuss the documentary and laid out the case behind the film’s argument.
