QUEER EYE FOR THE SPORTS GUYS. As a straight guy, I can tell you how easy it is for straight guys to make fun of gay men who are demonstrably effeminate. (I�d be lying if I said I have never made gay jokes; in certain settings straight men often make gay remarks, often about and to each other.) So, for example, Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy makes a convenient target because he fits the even more convenient stereotype: a thin, neat, self-described sissy who proudly knows his way around Sephora.

That�s probably why former NBA star Tim Hardaway freaked out upon learning that a 6�10�, 270-pounder like John Amaechi, with whom he used to share a locker room, is gay. Ditto for the news last year that former Minnesota Vikings lineman Esera Tuaolo is a homosexual — with a hubby and two adopted kids now, to boot.

Kressley is a guy you could — pardon the pun — lick in a fight; Amaechi and Tuaolo, not so much. The bothersome part is not that they might be looking at your ass, but that they could kick your ass. Beneath all the �ruins team morale� stuff, that is what I suspect is most troubling — a gay man who can compete in the most physically demanding, even punishing, of professional sports.

—Tom Schaller

Ann Friedman is a columnist for New York magazine’s website and for the Columbia Journalism Review. She also makes pie charts for The Hairpin and Los Angeles magazine. Her work has appeared in ELLE, Esquire, Newsweek, The Observer, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and many other outlets. She lives in Los Angeles, but travels so often the best place to find her is online at annfriedman.com. Follow @annfriedman