I'm not sure why he cuts his peyos as part of his coming out ceremony.. this is an unexpected reaction to the murder....

according to Kooker, this fellow is already not religious and has only continued to dress in his original hassidic dress is because of his desire to see his children (from one of his divorces), but he is really already secular (Kooker has a picture). Funnily enough, Kooker seems to consider the cutting off of his peyos to be worse than the coming out of the closet - it describes the cutting off of the peyos as crossing a red line, with a lot of description.