Five Sports Stars Prove that Standing Up for your Gay* Friends is Incredibly Attractive

Far be it from us to objectify anyone: man, woman, gay, straight, or other in any of those categories, but this feature on Out.com really leaves no wiggle room on the matter: athletes who stand up for their gay friends are hot.

People who speak up for their gay friends are attractive.

Pictured: Ben Cohen, Hudson Taylor, Michael Irvin, Mike Chabala, and Nick Youngquest. Click through to read more about what these rad athletes are doing for their gay friends!

The world of sports has unfortunately been notoriously rough territory for LGBT folks — whether it’s Kobe Bryant slinging anti-gay slurs during a Laker’s game or the seemingly never-ending inappropriate public referendum on South African runner Caster Semenya‘s gender, major players both inside and outside the game have a tendency to make big-league competition an uncomfortable space for anyone perceived as outside the “norm” of heterosexuality. Women athletes take a lot of heat in the form of “accusation,” constantly having their sexuality questioned for enjoying traditionally “manly” pursuits in sports, especially if they’re any good. For men, you’ll more often see players throw around derogatory terms for a ref after a bad call or using homophobic language to goad opponents, furthering the linguistic barb that “gay = bad” more than actually trying to out peers.

In any case, the five men profiled by Out Magazine are taking a stand not only for their gay teammates, but to encourage a huge shift in the world of sports to make it a safe and accepting environment for LGBT players and fans. In a universe where those who stand up for gay friends are likely to be labeled gay themselves, which is still a major career liability, these guys are truly going above and beyond to show what friendship means. And Out is buying them sexy outfits and taking nice pictures of’em for their troubles. Right on.

While these guys are high-profile athletes in super dudely realms like wrestling and rugby, it doesn’t take a spot in the limelight to make a difference — even making it clear that your gay friends are welcome on the JV team or after-work kickball league can mean the world. When a straight friend stands up to say it’s stupid to make a fuss over sharing locker-rooms or calls out another player for using anti-gay language, other people listen: you don’t have a stake besides caring about your friends, and that makes your voice incredibly powerful.

And (sorry, we have to say it) what’s more attractive than power, especially when it’s used to be a great friend? We don’t have stats on this, but we would put money on potential dates of whatever gender taking notice of your efforts in the best way.

For goodness sake, look at those five dudes! Think they’re hurting for Saturday night plans??

Have you ever encountered a hostile environment for LGBT friends on the field? Did you do anything about it? Think we’re seeing things get better or worse in the world of professional sports? Have at it in the comments!

The Stranger’s Queer Issue: Glee is a Pressing Social Issue (Sort Of)!

The Stranger just came out with its annual queer issue, a collection of articles about demographics (mostly LGBT-related demographics—although there is one floating article about undergraduates sleeping with their professors) who are “doing it wrong.” I thought the pieces about homophobes and (coming in a distant second) Glee were most interesting.

David Schmader argues that homophobia is losing cultural traction. To regain some leverage, he suggests that homophobes retool their ideology in the noble, combed over tradition of Donald Trump:

For a lesson on how to best present anti-gay bigotry in this age of general okayness with gayness, you’d do well to study the maneuvers of a man with legitimate ties to both Satan and Hitler: Donald Trump. The real-estate-mogul-turned-reality-TV-star-turned-failed-presidential-contender spiced up his faux-campaigning with some relatively inspired anti-gay bigotry—”inspired” mostly because it seemed so casual. Asked by Bill O’Reilly for his opinions on gay marriage, Trump said, “I just don’t feel good about it. I don’t feel right about it.” Trump further explained his position to the New York Times: “It’s like in golf. A lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive. It’s weird… I hate it. I am a traditionalist. I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist.”

Schmader adds that while people are losing interest in Biblical arguments against homosexuality, “nothing is easier than getting people to fetishize their own preferences.”

Which ties in nicely with the Glee piece. While Glee is not really on par with homophobia, issue-magnitude-wise (unless it runs for a LOT more seasons), Hank Stuever nevertheless criticizes it at length for encouraging overconfidence.

If you watch Glee with disllusionment instead of boundless hope, you suddenly realize that all those musical numbers merely appear to be that perfect in the minds of the characters. No teenagers anywhere can sing and dance like that, unrehearsed. Glee never stops to underline that fact for the audience or make use of it. If Glee was in touch with the reality of being gay—which can have its dark side—it would make the cruelly honest decision to switch off the Auto-Tune and razzle-dazzle and show a bunch of kids in a choir room singing badly but believing they’re great.

This is arguably the same overconfidence that Schmader sees permeating Trump-style homophobia—only baseless confidence could convince you that your personal preferences were important enough to make, say, same-sex marriage illegal.

What do you guys think of the future of homophobia? Of Glee? Of talking about Glee like it’s important? Comment away!