I find these responses to be dissatisfying because there were people from this time who had views quite similar to most of you, yet Lincoln gets a pass for something that's just a constant in American history.
I'm sure there were. Consider how the trends of support for gay marriage have change in the last 20 years. Yes, there were people who had always been in support for gay marriage, but every demographic "no" was the majority up until relatively recently. When I was a wee Catholic lad, I was like "Why can't they have civil unions and get all the benefits we have when we get married, if the whole marriage thing is a big deal." That was considered rather progressive. You can look back and say "That's not good enough." You'd be absolutely right. But my views didn't come from maliciousness or dislike from gay people, merely a misunderstanding of what constituted equality.
His views are not good views. But I am not so arrogant as to believe that I'd have been a trailblazer had I been in his position, nor is there any way to prove or tell if I would be. You can say you would be, but that would be equally unconvincing. After all, anyone can say in hindsight that they WOULD have been on the right side of history when there are no sacrifices to be made. Furthermore, I'm not even sure what you mean by "a pass". Lincoln is generally not favored at this point because of views, rather his actions. Even though those were romanticized as well, they were, for the most part, reasonable and net positives.
I'm simply not sure what the end game of this topic is. To dispel the myth that most educated people do not believe in the first place? To educate?
That racism white supremacy is a constant in American history and always will be. Lincoln's goal with keeping his union together had no slaves in his plans. He wanted to send us back to Africa immediately after the war. The slaves simply took advantage of a war between two snakes. I believe gay marriage and chattel slavery are not comparable at all. Perhaps you should try something more like prison slavery abolition. ---