Suppose that Pete Buttigieg is right that the US has had previous gay presidents. Which ones might they be?

James Buchanan almost certainly was. Even in his day those that knew him had pretty much sussed that out.

^I have heard that, too.

I don’t think that any, in my lifetime were. But I agree that it’s feasible. I know he’s not a POTUS, but Lindsay Graham, is definitely a homosexual.

Likely, there have been loads of closeted homosexuals, in many positions of power. Putin sets off my “gaydar.” (Apologies if any find that word offensive.)

It’s pathetic, that people can’t just be who they are… Well. Pathetic, that society is the reason.

James Buchanan was the first one who came to mind for me. Shame he was such a lousy president.

Talk is Lincoln was bisexual.
I honestly don’t care.

No one should care. It’s none of our business…. Being a homosexual, should be irrelevant to pretty much any job, that I can think of….
I can’t really think of ANY reason, that it should matter….

Maybe they wouldn’t ever want anyone to know.

I’m pretty sure Washington was.
The more I learn about him the more I think so.

Lincoln likely was either gay or bi.

Clinton isn’t, but his wife is. I don’t know why she hasn’t come out by now, unless she is in deep denial. Surely it would not have cost her votes.

I don’t think any of them would object to being outed if they were around now. Times have changed.

Even if I’m wrong about who, I believe it is very likely someone was.

^^^ Why do you think Hillary is a lesbian?

I thought Hillary was like A-sexual. Or, whatever a piece of rock is…

I have no doubt she loves her husband and daughter, but Bill is her partner, not her lover.

I once had a proposition from a friend in the navy. I had a tubal pregnancy, and the doctor said the damage was too extensive for me to have a baby. My friend suggested we get married. Gay couples could not adopt, so he thought if we married, it would be a chance for both of us to have children. It was a given we would both date whomever we wanted.
Lots of gay men in the navy were getting married to cover.
I loved him, but I was too crushed over losing baby and husband to consider any relationship at the time.
I wish I would have.

Billery was the perfect political partnership. He was charismatic, she had the stamina and killer instinct. Women couldn’t get far in politics back then. He was her tool. Open relationship.
She was too ambitious for her chosen role. She started doing naughty stuff, because she could. If she had been elected instead of Bill, she might have done well, and maybe kept busy enough to stay out of trouble.

That Flowers woman claimed she had been involved with Bill for twelve years. You can’t convince me Hillery didn’t have a clue.

Rock?
Hillery is stone cold, but if she has a discreet lady, I bet that rock boils and turns molten.

So…successful, smart, intelligent, ambitious woman = dyke, or at least A-sexual. Lord, I thought we’d come further than that.

You made that assertion, not me. I’m sorry if you got that idea.
It was an outline of how an ambitious woman who is a lesbian, used her motivations to move her career forward in a time when the political arena was not readily accepting LGBT within their ranks.

And I know lots of ambitious women who are hetero.

He was brave to come out. It will probably cost him the election but it was still a very brave thing to do.
I don’t care if he’s gay or not. I’m not going to vote for him BECAUSE he is gay, just like I didn’t vote for Obama BECAUSE he is black. And sexy. And, like, so hot.

Dutch . “successful, smart, intelligent, ambitious.” Those are your words, to describe Hillary. Not mine. So, please don’t make up a narrative here.

There are plenty of smart, ambitious women, in this world, and I don’t opine that they are A-sexual.

To an extent, I agree with Patty’s assessment. Bill was a tool, for Hillary. They were a political/power couple. And I agree that Hillary, was too aloof, to not know about Bill’s behavior…

You don’t think Hillary Clinton is “successful, smart, intelligent, ambitious”?
Hey…just because you aren’t sexually attracted to a woman doesn’t mean they are asexual.

^I think she’s ambitious, and above average intelligence. I didn’t say I wasn’t sexually attracted to her, although I am not. You’re painting your own picture…

OK then. What did you base your opinion that she is A sexual on?

^I have not personally met her, but I’ve seen her speak many times. That plus the observations that Patty, and I seem to agree upon….

I really like Elizabeth Warren. I am not sexually attracted to her…

You seem to opine that Hillary, is heterosexual. May I ask, what you base that on?

I doubt she’s much of any thing any more. She’s 65. As Coloma so succinctly said, when we hit our mid 50’s we’re pretty much “dicked out.”
She may have been gay or bi or whatever when she was younger. I don’t care. I would like to think she was true to Bill, because she promised, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she wasn’t. I am 99% certain that Willie caught living hell from her over the Lewinski scandal. Not because he went out on her, but because he was fucking stupid enough to get caught by the whole country!
I doubt she really cared about much more than that at that point.
There is nothing wrong with a woman using a man to further her political ambitions. Men have been using women to do the same thing for hundreds of years.

^Thank you for your detailed answer.
I didn’t say that I had a problem with her using Bill, it was just my opinion. As far as her sexuality, I only opined about that, because of the relevance to the thread…

I know you like Hillary, and that’s ok. I don’t necessarily dislike her, I just thought she was a poor presidential candidate… Before you say it, yes, better than Trump. But that’s putting the bar pretty low…

I’m not a huge fan of Hillary. I can’t even tell you why. I’m sure I let the lies and rumors affect me.
She is one strong woman and that’s for sure. All. First Ladies are including Melania.

We are of an accord on that one. First ladies rock.

So, what if the first openly gay president marries? Can they? It seems odd to call a male president’s husband “the first man.”.... Maybe I’m just old fashioned…

I would suppose they’d hold off on anything official for that reason.

That sucks. It would never be “normal, ” if we didn’t start with the first gay POTUS…

When has any sitting president gotten married while in office?

@Dutchess_lll

GQ.

I was thinking that unless someone already knew the answer, it would involve some majorly tedious research, but I was wrong!

Ah! Good one! Mustn’t.have.a bachelor.president!

What creeped me out was when I clicked the link and saw the question, which Prez married his daughter.
To ew for me.

I should think a married gay president, would have either the first spouse, or SOOTPOTUS, significant other of the president of the United States.

Oh…that was his step daughter and he didn’t raisebl her, I think. I forget that whole story. Would definitely deep six a presidential career today…or would have 2½ years ago.

He did raise her. She was his charge after her father died.
Raises the question, did a romantic relationship develops suddenly when she was an adult?

Or the question “Did a romantic relation suddenly develop when she was 10?”

She was his charge but he didn’t raise her. ”When her father died in a carriage accident on July 23, 1875, without having written a will, the court appointed Cleveland administrator of his estate.[2] This brought Cleveland into still more contact with Frances, then age 11.” Source

Grover Cleveland was a really creepy dude. He raped a woman and she became pregnant. She gave birth to a boy. Then “Cleveland arranged to have the child forcibly removed from his mother and placed in the Buffalo Orphan Asylum. Maria Halpin was thrown into the Providence Lunatic Asylum, although the facility’s medical director quickly released her after an evaluation, concluding (correctly) that she was not insane and that her incarceration was the result of an abuse of power by political elites.” Source

Wouldn’t it have been fun to be a woman in those days!

Or a woman, today, but in a different society. Women’s rights are only really now being brought to you the forefront of what’s considered normal.

Kids were unprotected then.