When we were kids, when a guy - even a straight guy - exhibited less-than-manly characteristics, he was called a faggot. The term homophobia was the Left’s ingenious way of turning this phenomenon on itself. No real man gets afraid... so you better like gays!
I used to remember when “gay” was something they called you to provoke you into acting more like a man. For the most part, it worked. Pretty much the same reason why people would say a man or boy would be called “like a girl”