The age-old debate of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's sexuality is due to be stirred up with the release of an author's determination Lincoln was gay.

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In "The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln," to be published next month by Free Press, the late author C.A. Tripp claims Lincoln had a homosexual relationship with the captain of his bodyguards, David Derickson, who shared his bed whenever Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd, was away.

Tripp died last year, two weeks after completing 10 years of research on the book, the New York Times said.

Tripp charts Lincoln's relationships with other men, including Joshua Speed, with whom he shared a bed for four years, and Billy Greene, with whom Lincoln also shared a bed in New Salem, Ill. Greene reportedly said Lincoln's thighs "were as perfect as a human being could be."

In researching the 16th president and founder of the Republican party, Tripp created a large database of cross-indexed material, which is now available at the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Ill.