Who were key figures spreading early rumors about Trump's sexuality?

1. What the record actually shows: Trump as the questioner, not necessarily the target

Several journalistic sources describe Trump as someone who frequently speculated aloud about other people’s sexualities and mocked gay people — for example, former Organization executive Alan Marcus and reporting drawn from Maggie Haberman’s reporting/biography — but these pieces portray Trump as the active commentator rather than a figure targeted by early sexual-orientation rumours ^[1]. The sources do not identify early public actors who widely pushed rumours about Trump’s own sexuality; instead they record Trump’s own patterns of commentary about others ^[1].

2. The dominant themes in available reporting: sexual-misconduct allegations, not espionage of orientation

The bulk of the documents supplied catalog sexual-misconduct allegations against Trump dating back decades, trials, and media moments such as the Access Hollywood tape; those items foreground accusations of assault, harassment and denials rather than an organized campaign alleging Trump’s sexuality ^{[3] [4] [5]}. Major summaries and timelines (The Guardian, Business Insider, TIME) track accusers, legal outcomes and public statements, not rumor-mongers about orientation ^{[5] [3] [6]}.

3. Where “rumours about sexuality” do appear: online chatter about family members

One provided item specifically flags online rumours — unverified — about a family member’s sexuality (Barron Trump), and notes those rumors originate in online gossip with no credible sourcing in the reporting cited ^[2]. That article underscores the distinction: anonymous online speculation can spread widely, but the piece does not name specific early propagators or credible journalists who started those rumours ^[2].

4. Media snippets that can feed rumor diffusion but don’t name originators

Several sources show moments that often fuel speculation — crude public comments, laughable moments on Howard Stern or the Access Hollywood excerpt — which can be repurposed on social platforms to stoke all kinds of rumors, including about orientation ^{[4] [7]}. Snopes’ later analysis of the Howard Stern clip (included in the sources) shows how viral resurfacing of archival material can trigger renewed speculation, but the analysis focuses on context and interpretation of the clip rather than naming early rumour-spreaders ^[7].

5. Conflicting perspectives and gaps in the record

Available reporting emphasizes two competing frames: (a) mainstream outlets and longform reporting catalog sexual-assault allegations and Trump’s hostile rhetoric toward LGBTQ people, and (b) online outlets and aggregators note unverified rumors about family members’ sexualities. None of the provided sources, however, attribute early rumour-spreading about Trump’s own sexuality to named journalists, activists, or political operatives; that absence is a notable gap ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

6. What would be needed to substantiate “key figures”

To reliably name “key figures” who spread early rumours about Trump’s sexuality one would need contemporaneous sourcing — articles, social-media posts, memos or court filings that demonstrably initiated or amplified those rumours. The documents provided instead supply patterns of behavior, allegations of misconduct, and examples of viral resurfacing; they do not supply provenance for early rumours about Trump’s orientation ^{[1] [4] [3] [7]}.

7. Bottom line and journalistic caution

Available sources do not mention specific early instigators who spread rumors about Donald Trump’s sexuality; they document Trump’s own habit of speculating about others’ sexualities, decades-long allegations of sexual misconduct, and some instances of online rumor about his family that lack verification ^{[1] [3] [2]}. If you want a named list of “key figures” who first pushed those rumours, further primary-source tracing (archival social posts, earliest articles, or platform analytics) beyond the supplied material would be required.