This probably comes from the fact that we're more interested in criminal rights regardless of what the charge is and they just see an isolated case being defended and go wild over it. They wanna have a label they can also on someone to disenfranchise them without anyone else considering the validity.
The right has been trying to smear the entire LGBT community as pedophiles for literal centuries, bro, but it's been particularly popular in the last few years now that they've realized they can't get people to hate them for being queer alone.