The Gaying of Richard Hatch

Well, Richard Hatch, it appears, is going to prison (don't expect 13 years...without going too far off topic, I'll just explain that all things aren't as they seem when the media presents sentencing possibilities). But I found something very compelling in the media coverage of his trial.

When Hatch was on "Survivor", we knew he was gay. He revealed the fact early on. But it never seemed that he was trying to "act" gay. It was part of who he was, we accepted it, he never made a big point of it.

But during the trial, he suddenly affected a lisp I had never heard before. I kept expecting him to add the word "girlfriend" after half his words. It was a fairly low key lisp, but it was present nonetheless.

This begs the question: why the need to "act" gay? I don't care what you do behind closed doors, and honestly, in the long run, even the gay "acting" with the lisp and all won't affect anything. But I find it peculiar, to say the least, that an individual who had never before affected those sorts of effeminate qualities would do so now. I have to wonder if this is under the advice of his lawyers and a notion that somehow the jury will see him in a more sympathetic light if he plays up his sexual preferences. Or maybe (on a slightly more warped note), it's just a highly publicized personal ad for one of the cellies that might someday make Hatch his b****.