Gay-rights advocates were alarmed Tuesday by rampant media speculation about Aaron Hernandez’s sexual orientation, saying the unverified reports are not relevant to his crimes or his suicide.
“I understand there’s prurient interest in this information, but there’s no public interest in this information,” said Cyd Zeigler, a co-founder of Outsports.com, an LGBT sports publication. “What relevance is there to the public interest of who someone has sex with, particularly in prison? If that’s of public interest, why don’t we start outing everybody?”
Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, said it shouldn’t matter whether Hernandez was gay, but swirling tabloid and talk-radio rumors about his sexual orientation make being gay “seem dirty.