Far-right Austrian outed after his death?

VIENNA, Austria - Speculation is raging in Austria that far-right leader Joerg Haider - a married father of two who died in an auto accident - led a secret double life as a gay man.

The rumor erupted after his political protege, Stefan Petzner, publicly called Haider "the man of my life" in a tearful tribute. "We had a special relationship that went far beyond friendship," he said.

Petzner, 27, did not say explicitly that he and Haider, 58, were gay. But his tears and remarks - along with photographs purportedly showing Haider in a gay bar on the eve of his death - have raised questions about whether the ultraconservative nationalist had something to hide.

"Stefan Petzner needs to make a decision," Michael Fleischhacker, editor in chief of the daily Die Press, wrote in his blog. "Either he describes what was so special about his relationship with Joerg Haider, or he stops publicly playing the role of Haider's successor and widow."

Haider died Oct. 11 after crashing his car in the southern province of Carinthia, where he was governor. Investigators said he was drunk and speeding when the car plowed into a concrete post.

Haider praised Adolf Hitler's labor policies, criticized immigrants as lazy, criminal and corrupt, and seemed contemptuous of Jews.

He left the ultra-right-wing Freedom Party to form the somewhat moderate Alliance for the Future of Austria; Petzner, his deputy, succeeded him as the alliance's chief after Haider's death.