Beards: A symbol of being in Special Ops, on the Red Sox, or of a certain gayness?

Three
things that strike me lately about beards:

They've
become a symbol of being in Special
Ops, especially in Afghanistan. Even Air Force weathermen were growing beards,
if they could get away with it. So, elite soldiers.




They
also are the symbol of the Red Sox this year. Makes more
sense than "cowboy up," I guess. So, a winning team.




Andrew
Sullivan is always going on about them as some kind of gay symbol, I think of the
bear-like gay man. Another elite group?