I thought 'gay?' after reading only this short excerpt, too. I reread it to make sure there was nothing in the excerpt that implied it, and there wasn't. I think it's the run-over-repeatedly part that did it. It's like a homicidal hissy fit. It's so gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Either you didn't read it as closely the second time as you did the first, or you have had too much indoctrination in being politically correct.
"AIDS activist" Come on, how many straight male 'AIDS activists' have you run across.