As the authorities look for answers in the alleged murder spree of Andrew Cunanan, a big question for us is why are we so willing to believe that being gay can turn anyone into a serial killer.
More Top Picks Best White Noise Machines For Sleep
Police have accused Cunanan, of San Diego, of murders in Minneapolis, Chicago, New Jersey and the July 15 shooting of fashion designer Gianni Versace in Miami. After a countrywide manhunt, the 27-year-old shot himself to death in a Miami boathouse July 23. Cunanan was reportedly gay.
Because the HIV virus is usually spread through sex or sharing needles, ignorance and fear have typecast people with the virus that causes AIDS as sexually deviant or drug-addled pariahs. Now, with the Cunanan coverage, gays are being demonized as disease-crazed murderers.
It follows this absurd logic: Cunanan, is reportedly gay, so he probably is HIV-positive. So he roamed the country and killed five men for more than two months to get even.
However, a source told the Miami Herald late last week that a test performed on Cunanan’s body at the Dade County medical examiner’s office showed that Cunanan was not HIV-positive.
America has always been fascinated with serial killers, and the gay aspect of the Cunanan case pushed the titillation factor sky-high. But the AIDS theory, which surfaced soon after the first murders were publicized, went way over the top.
Rumormongers can’t even get the stereotypes right. Gay white men are not the only group that contracts HIV. AIDS among that group is declining, but it is on the rise among minorities and women–who tend to be poorer and most likely at the end of the line for the latest, expensive medical treatments that are prolonging lives.
Still, the media, armed with gossip, pulled out all the stereotypes and code words about gays: Cuananan was a gigolo, a prostitute, flashy, flamboyant, a party boy, a cross-dresser, maybe even into a little sadomasochism.
And the press “documented” this blather by trotting out a bunch of two-bit “experts” from academia and law enforcement. It doesn’t take long for a oft-repeated rumor to become perceived as fact.
After the third murder, Cunanan disappeared for two months, and the media, starved for new developments, resorted to unfounded speculation and gossip.
For instance, many media outlets spread the sleazy claim of an “AIDS counselor” in San Diego that Cunanan had confided to him that he was infected with the HIV virus and wanted revenge. What credibility does any AIDS counselor have if he freely discusses a client’s HIV status with reporters? While clinic officials quickly denied the claim, the damage was done.
After Cunanan’s suicide, even the respected Christian Science Monitor reported: “Some experts have speculated that Cunanan snapped after allegedly testing positive for the virus that causes AIDS.” Who are these experts? If they are experts, why are they speculating?
On the night of Cunanan’s suicide, I tuned in to CNN. For more than an hour I watched two reporters report from the scene as they waited for the police to determine if the body inside the houseboat was Cunanan’s. Live broadcasts are a challenge–a reporter must keep the commentary fresh,and also factual, even though there may be no real news to report. But that wasn’t a problem for these guys, since they weren’t concerned with facts. This is typical of recent coverage.
Reporters simply rehashed all the gossip surrounding the case, and with it, subliminal stereotypes about gays: That Cunanan had “met” (sex) Versace “backstage” (illicitly) at an opera in San Francisco (home of gay hedonism). That the owner of the boathouse also owned a gay spa (illicit sex) in Las Vegas (sin city). And they mentioned another theory that Cunanan may have been disguised as a woman (drag queen) and said investigators would be looking for women’s clothing in the boathouse.
Finally, one reporter suggested that when an autopsy was performed on Cunanan’s body authorities would do an HIV test. “That would answer a lot of questions,” he proclaimed. About the only question that answered for me was whether this so-called journalist was an idiot. Guess what I concluded.
It’s natural that we, and especially the victims’ families, want answers to explain these heinous crimes. We wanted explanations of what motivated Leopold and Loeb, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Wayne Williams, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer. But we got few, and the killing continued.
This country is homophobic and ignorant enough, between the Bible-thumpers who warn of damnation and punishment, and the uptight folks who have nothing better to do than focus on somebody else’s sex life. Gossip about the HIV status of Andrew Cunanan only demeans people who are trying to live and die with a disease that no one deserves.
If we in the media spent as much time telling true stories about the challenges of people with HIV and AIDS, we might all be better off.
Let’s put the experts to work on that one.