Marlon Brando's character was supposed to be gay?

I've been reading trivia and the feud between Brando and Oz (the director) started bc Oz "thought Brando's performance as a homosexual crook was too nelly". Huh? I've seen this movie at least 15-20 times and I never thought Max was gay. Flamboyant, sure, but I never thought he was gay, or was written as a gay character. Interesting. IMO, there is nothing shown that would make the viewer assume he's gay.