but I think that ultimately he was killed because of his gender.
Yeah, and just because of the gender deal, they killed two other people, including a baby. With a shotgun. How exactly does BT being anything get you so mad you shotgun a baby? That's not any sort of 'gender rage,' that's Helter Skelter.
So I think it adds up in a different way.
And this area of the country is a long way from being the kind of proud yeoman farmer, Oooo-klahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain, it's fricking Twin Peaks without the mountains, but all of the weird. And that was by the 1970s. Added to that heavy weird then very powerful drugs, (powerful recreational chemicals for a bunch of people who pretty much had nothing but recreational time on their hands) meth being the most popular and damaging and that gives you Helter Skelter.
Into this comes BT, who is blissfully unaware of the nature and underbelly of rural Midwestern America (he grew up in Lincoln, a college/government town, about the most prosperous and liberal place in Nebraska) and gets immediately caught up with the worst possible elements that could be found. The real Lost Boys. BT was drawn to these people because he had a huge character flaw, to wit:
You lived your life as a big fat lie
You act like you had no responsibilities
'Cause if you did it's a bet that you wouldn't be
Stealin' beggin' hustlin' and schemin'
You could'a got a job
But did you know the meaning of work
I'm talking about an honest day's pay
But you was too lazy to be that way
Always trying to take the easy route
That's what they tell me, so I don't doubt
It for a moment, not for a sec
Because you lacked all your self respect
And that got him straight into the worst bunch of the worst people you can ever imagine. That's what got him killed.