He never married and seems to have lived comfortably as an openly gay man, at least within the worlds of Broadway and Hollywood. George Gershwin once wrote a letter to his brother Ira in which he mentions that he attended a party in NY and that “Herbie Fields was there with his (male) sweetheart”.
The passage suggests that the subject lived openly as a gay man in the context of the entertainment industry (Broadway and Hollywood).  George Gershwin, a famous composer, mentioned seeing Herbie Fields at a party with his male partner.