Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed this week it was possible the United States of America has already had a gay president in the White House.
Ocasio-Cortez made her comments while speaking with a TMZ reporter Wednesday on Capitol Hill, per the outlet. He asked her if the country would have a female or gay president first.
“Well, we don’t know if we’ve already had a gay president to be honest with you. I think there are chances that maybe we have but I don’t know,” she stated.
Ocasio-Cortez shared the clip and wrote in the caption, “This was fun”:
In 2012, a Newsweek magazine cover called former president Barack Obama (D) “The First Gay President,” according to Breitbart News, which noted the article was written by Andrew Sullivan.
The article by Ben Shapiro read, “Sullivan, who is gay, is the most ardent backer of President Obama imaginable; he largely switched parties because of the gay marriage issue. Sullivan is a personal favorite blogger of the White House. Now, he’s portraying Obama as a religious figure, bathed in the glow of the same-sex marriage agenda.”
Several years later, a Discovery+ show for young audiences portrayed former President Abraham Lincoln as a “queer’ hero, according to Breitbart News.
However, the outlet explained that historians had debunked the idea that Lincoln was homosexual:
In a 2017 interview with The Daily Beast, historian Charles Strozier said Lincoln’s relationship with his best friend Joshua Speed was not sexual as left-wing activists often try to claim.
“I think the historical context is really important to understand,” Strozier said. “In the 19th century, the taboo of homosexuality is absolutely rigid. Whitman was gay. He had to stay in the closet. Sodomy, buggery, was illegal and severely prescribed.”
“But friendship, intimate, loving friendship like that between Lincoln and Speed, was not only accepted but encouraged as the long as the boundary against sexualization was rigidly and absolutely maintained,” the historian explained, describing 19th century customs.
Ocasio-Cortez has been in the news recently for reportedly spending over $2,000 in campaign funds for a celebrity makeup artist, even though she once boasted about doing her own makeup, per Breitbart News.