News The Rush To Proclaim Aaron Hernandez ?Gay? Or 'Bisexual? Is Troubling

[HairyChick]

The Rush To Proclaim Aaron Hernandez ?Gay? Or 'Bisexual? Is Troubling
HUFFINGTON POST 4 days ago

This article originally appeared on Outsports

When we first got wind Friday about a story regarding convicted former New England Patriotstight end Aaron Hernandez?s sexual orientation, we were certainly curious.

Yet as we dug deeper, the facts weren?t adding up. Most of the news stories were being based off of one Daily Mail ?exclusive? report about a note Hernandez allegedly left for ?his gay jailhouse lover? before committing suicide last week.

The Daily Mail is a disreputable media organization whose ?reporting? isn?t allowed as fact on Wikipedia. It stretches the truth or sometimes just invents it. Recently the Daily Mail had to apologize and pay almost $3 million to Melania Trump for gross and inaccurate reporting on her work as a model. In other words: You can?t believe much from the Daily Mail.

Other stories about Hernandez were based off of the stories of one reporter ? Michele McPhee ? of second- and third-hand information about Hernandez?s life in jail for his murder conviction and before his incarceration. Despite McPhee?s claim that Hernandez being bisexual was ?common knowledge,? we have yet to find anyone to corroborate this.

Both of these sources seemed to use questionable information at best, and last week we refrained from writing about it.

None of that stopped many reputable news outlets from running with their own stories based on this shaky reporting, including the New York Daily News, New York Post, Sporting News and others. Many LGBT blogs followed suit, reporting on Hernandez?s alleged male lover.

ProFootballTalk shied away from it at first, yet dove in over the weekend with some thoughtful, pointed commentary, hinting that these questions about his sexual orientation may come from a police department with a vendetta.

Given the increasingly widespread nature of this conversation, we felt it was time to offer our commentary.

This story, and the way it has been portrayed, raised our eyebrows from the first moment we saw the headlines. The story, how it?s been reported, and how it has metastasized, troubles us as both journalists and as gay men.

Here?s why:

Proclaiming facts with no evidence is shoddy journalism

We?ve seen reports of a suicide note to a ?gay lover,? with no evidence. We?ve seen a report that a Hernandez cohort called him a ?limp wrist? with no evidence or context. We?ve seem a claim that Hernandez killed a man for calling him a ?schmoocher,? with no context of what that means or evidence that it motivated Hernandez. We?ve seen a claim that Hernandez had an ?alleged? longtime male lover with zero proof.

Zero evidence. Zero proof. Zero context. Those are three reasons the vast majority of reputable news organizations haven?t touched this story and why we at Outsports will not report on it as a news story. We?re only addressing it now since coverage has been widespread and we wanted to inject a huge note of caution and, hopefully, understanding.

Silence from the Boston Herald and Boston Globe is deafening

These two newspapers have spent many years, several full-time reporters and countless hours digging into the personal life of Aaron Hernandez as he awaited trial, had his day in court, and served time. That neither of them has touched the sexual-orientation angle since it broke last week speaks volumes.

Outsports has been told by a knowledgeable source that one of these papers has unearthed zero evidence pertaining to Hernandez being gay or bisexual. This is telling.

The Globe today wrote a lengthy piece about the battle over his suicide notes without mentioning anything regarding a male lover or his sexual orientation. Again, this speaks volumes about their reporting.

Assuming Hernandez is gay or bisexual because he had sex with men is troublesome

Headlines and reports have labeled Hernandez ?bisexual? or having a ?gay lover? over the last few days.

Newsflash: Just because a man has sex with another doesn?t make him gay or bisexual. We each get to define what and who we are sexually, even convicted murderers.

The reporting on this by McPhee, who started this entire storyline by proclaiming last week that Hernandez might have possibly conceivably killed a man because of a gay slur, is particularly egregious. She has no trouble labeling Hernandez ?bisexual? without ever speaking to Hernandez to ask how he identifies. As an ?investigative journalist? in Boston who claims this was ?common knowledge,? she could have asked him while he was alive. She waited until he was dead to write a loosely sourced column about him.

Just because a man has had sex with other men does not make him gay or bisexual. We know that is hard to understand for some, but many men ?experiment? briefly with other men.

Some men find circumstances drive them to sex with men. Prison is a particularly fascinating place, where otherwise completely straight men engage in sex, or even relationships, with other men.

McPhee and others have chosen to label Hernandez in a way they have never heard him label himself. Sadly, in our culture, ?if you have sex with a dude, man, you?re gay.?

The convenient nature that ?you can?t libel the dead? casts doubt

To be clear, we don?t believe calling someone ?gay? or ?bisexual? is libelous in nature.

Yet it?s awfully convenient that these reports coming down have largely been only since Hernandez?s death. Because law prohibits the filing of libel and defamation lawsuits on behalf of a dead person, there is no recourse against potentially false claims. It opens the door to widespread speculation presented as fact.

No one will ever likely know the sexual orientation of Aaron Hernandez

The sexual orientation of each person is defined by one person: themselves.

While we can certainly share stories and insights about heroes like Sally Ride and Luther Vandross, the sexuality of Hernandez is potentially complicated beyond what any of us, in our comfortable lives, could understand.

We have no idea if Hernandez privately identified as gay, bisexual, straight, queer or anything else. Neither the Daily Mail, McPhee nor any other media entity have this information about his personal identification.

Hernandez was a convicted murderer. No matter how you look at him, he had the right to define his sexuality in his own way. It is not up to McPhee, the Daily Mail, or anyone else to do that for him based on speculation and innuendo.

We hope media outlets and people across social media ? LGBTQ or otherwise ? will cease to discuss this issue until physical evidence is presented that affects the public interest.

Barring any concrete evidence, this is the last you will hear from Outsports on this issue.

[brassmonkey]

After reports identified him as Aaron Hernandez? secret prison lover, Kyle Kennedy is finally speaking out about his intimate relationship with the late murderer.

?I miss my friend Aaron Hernandez,? he said in a statement to RadarOnline.com. ?I?d like to send my condolences to his fiancée, his mother and his daughter.?

Though the NFL great turned killer was engaged to the mother of his young daughter, Shayanna Jenkins, at the time of his suicide last week, Hernandez allegedly also romanced Kennedy, a 22-year-old armed robber and fellow inmate at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts.

As Radar previously reported, Kennedy?s attorney Larry Army Jr. said Hernandez requested to share a prison cell with his constant companion, and even left him a suicide letter. (Hernandez? lawyer denied the last claim.)


Aaron Hernandezâ??s Alleged Prison Boyfriend Kyle Kennedy Speaks Out For First Time

[Bladewire]

There is no rush to do anything, the Gay community has known Hernandez is Gay for years.

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by Bladewire

There is no rush to do anything, the Gay community has known Hernandez is Gay for years.

do tell? I'm all ears....

[crockett]

Originally Posted by Grapesoda

do tell? I'm all ears....

They have gaydar... geez

[brassmonkey]

did you notice the lawyer only denied the last statement about the letter?

[CjTheFish]

who fucking cares

[Jel]

Newsflash: Just because a man has sex with another doesn’t make him gay or bisexual. We each get to define what and who we are sexually, even convicted murderers.

It's late here, but am I reading this right, that (according to whoever wrote this piece) consensual sex between 2 men doesn't mean either are gay, or bisexual, UNLESS they 'identify' as such?

If that's what they are saying, then just lol...

[wehateporn]

Aaron Hernandez Wasn't on Drugs Before Suicide, Wrote 'Illuminati' in Blood on the Wall ... Report Says | TMZ.com

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by Jel

It's late here, but am I reading this right, that (according to whoever wrote this piece) consensual sex between 2 men doesn't mean either are gay, or bisexual, UNLESS they 'identify' as such?

If that's what they are saying, then just lol...

gay is a lifestyle, 2 men fucking is homosexuality. not all homosexuals are gay.

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by Grapesoda

gay is a lifestyle, 2 men fucking is homosexuality. not all homosexuals are gay.

You must be high because you are 100% correct faggot 👍 👍

[Jel]

Originally Posted by Grapesoda

gay is a lifestyle, 2 men fucking is homosexuality. not all homosexuals are gay.

fair enough, but in the context of that quote, where we can safely change 'gay' for 'homosexual', that is still laughable.

It's only homosexual/bisexual if you identify as such...

I only fuck women, have only ever fucked women, but people should tiptoe around calling me heterosexual in case I don't identify as such? Behave

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by Jel

fair enough, but in the context of that quote, where we can safely change 'gay' for 'homosexual', that is still laughable.

It's only homosexual/bisexual if you identify as such...

I only fuck women, have only ever fucked women, but people should tiptoe around calling me heterosexual in case I don't identify as such? Behave

So you're saying that you could get your dick hard for a guys mouth because heterosexuality is a lifestyle choice not part of natures design like homosexuality is?

This is the most concise, perfect explanation you will find to the error in your perception:

"Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction that one feels toward men, toward women or toward both. Although sexual orientation ranges along a continuum, it is generally discussed in terms of heterosexual ? attraction to the other sex ? homosexual ?attraction to the same sex ? and bisexual ?attraction to both sexes. Sexual orientation has not been conclusively found to be determined by any particular factor or factors, and the timing of the emergence, recognition and expression of one?s sexual orientation varies among individuals.

Sexual orientation is not synonymous with sexual activity. Many adolescents as well as adults may identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual without having had any sexual experience with persons of the same sex. Other young people have had sexual experiences with a person of the same sex but do not consider themselves lesbian, gay or bisexual. This is particularly relevant during adolescence because experimentation and discovery are normal and common during this developmental period.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual adolescents follow developmental pathways that are both similar to and different from those of heterosexual adolescents. All teenagers face certain developmental challenges, such as developing social skills, thinking about career choices and fitting into a peer group. Like most heterosexual youths, most lesbian, gay and bisexual youths are healthy individuals who have significant attachments to and make contributions to their families, peers, schools and religious institutions.
However, lesbian, gay and bisexual youth must also cope with the prejudice, discrimination and violence in society and, in some cases, in their own families, schools and communities. Such marginalization negatively affects the health, mental health and education of those lesbian, gay and bisexual young people who experience it. For example, in one study, these students were more likely than heterosexual students to report missing school due to fear, being threatened by other students, and having their property damaged at school.1 The promotion in schools of efforts to change sexual orientation by therapy or through religious ministries seems likely to exacerbate the risk of harassment, harm and fear for these youth.

One result of the isolation and lack of support experienced by some lesbian, gay and bisexual youth is higher rates of emotional distress, suicide attempts and risky sexual behavior and substance use. Because their legitimate fear of being harassed or hurt may reduce the willingness of lesbian, gay and bisexual youths to ask for help, it is important that their school environments be open and accepting so these young people will feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns, including the option of disclosing their sexual orientation to others. Such disclosure is an expression of a normal tendency to want to share personal information about oneself with important others and should be respected as such. It is healthy for teenagers to share with friends and families their ?latest crush? or how they spent their weekend. To be able to provide an accepting environment, school personnel need to understand the nature of sexual orientation development and be supportive of healthy development for all youth. If school environments become more positive for lesbian, gay and bisexual students, it is likely that their differences in health, mental health and substance abuse risks will decrease.5"

[Jel]

Originally Posted by Bladewire

So you're saying that you could get your dick hard for a guys mouth because heterosexuality is a lifestyle choice not part of natures design like homosexuality is?

No, I'm saying if I physically fuck only women, and find only fucking women appeals to me, that I'm a heterosexual regardless of what I 'identify' as.

I'm saying if I physically fuck women and also physically fuck men, I'm bisexual, regardless of whether I 'identify' as hetero-only.

And to say that others best be careful if they refer to me as hetero just because I only physically fuck women, or be careful not to label me as bisexual if I physically fuck women and men, as it may conflict with whatever I 'identify' as, is horseshit.

That's what I'm saying