When the World Cup kicks off in Qatar in 2022 there will be no alcohol.

There will also be few gay people in the stands, watching the most popular sports event on the planet.

FIFA – soccer’s world governing body – stunned the world late last year with the announcement that the quadrennial tournament heads for the first time to the Middle East. It was a coup for Sepp Blatter. FIFA’s president already helped steer the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, a first for the continent.

The same day he announced Qatar for 2022, he said that Russia would host the 2018 event. That too was a first. Some observers thought Blatter, who wields great influence over the politicized voting for host nations, was angling for the Nobel Peace Prize.

But Blatter’s statement a few days later torpedoed any hope for such an award. Instead, it set off a human rights firestorm that reached from Qatar to FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, to England and the U.S. – anywhere on the globe where soccer is played.

In other words, everywhere.

Immediately following Blatter’s announcement about Qatar, questions arose. How can games be played in heat that reaches 125 degrees? What will happen when hard-drinking fans arrive in a country where public consumption of alcohol is forbidden?

And how can LGBT fans travel to a nation where homosexuality is strictly forbidden?

Asked at a news conference if he foresaw any cultural problems, the 74-year-old Blatter replied, "I’d say they (gay fans) should refrain from any sexual activities."

His tone was jocular. He then turned serious, saying simply he was sure there would be no problems.

A FIFA spokesman said there would be no further comment.

Howls of indignation arose from gay and straight organizations – sports-minded, and not.

Former NBA basketball star John Amaechi – raised in England, the birthplace of soccer – was among the first to respond.

He said, "It’s absurd. It’s not about people having sex in public and being sanctioned for it; it’s the fact that Qatar was one of 79 countries to sanction executing gays at the United Nations.

"FIFA has endorsed the marginalization of LGBT people around the world. Anything less than a full reversal of his position is unacceptable... . If sport cannot serve to change society, even temporarily during the duration of an event like the World Cup that invites the world to participate, then it is little more than grown men chasing a ball and we should treat it as such."

Amaechi did not limit his criticism to Blatter. Referring to giggling by reporters when the gay question was asked, the basketball player said, "It is the most childish response I could imagine. This does make it harder for footballers that are gay, but let’s not limit this. This story is big enough, his influence is big enough, to impact young people in school, people in workplaces, anybody who is perceived to be gay or is gay."

Blatter’s comments, Amaechi said, underscore that "the seat of power, straight white men" are "very, very clearly uncomfortable with this issue and certainly not interested in taking it seriously."

Kick It Out, an organization combating racism in soccer, spoke out against Blatter’s remarks too.Chairman Herman Ouseley said, "It was all frivolity and laughter, but it’s a serious business. People’s existence he has ridiculed.

"We can’t have that from the top of the world governing body. You’ve got to show leadership because you’ve got to influence the standards of behavior required and then you’ve got to enforce it when there’s a failure."

Juriv Lavrikovs, communications director at the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, said simply, "This is not a joke. This is a matter of life and death to people."

Qatar enforces its anti-sodomy laws strictly. An American serving a six-month sentence for homosexuality also received 90 lashes.

Gay Football Supporters Network chair Chris Basiurski noted, ""Many LGBT people live in countries where they would face execution or imprisonment if discovered. These people deserve our help, our respect and our support."

"They, like the rest of us, do not deserve to be laughed at... . Mr. Blatter is naive to think that by taking the beautiful game to Qatar, it will bring an end to discrimination in the Middle East.

"He says that football is ‘everything for everyone,’ but he has not yet explained just how FIFA is going to ensure that LGBT football players and supporters will be welcome in Qatar."

Blatter later condemned discrimination "against any human beings be it on this side or that side, be it left, right or whatever." He did not mention anti-gay discrimination specifically.

The powerful chairman still has his job. And the World Cup is still headed to Qatar.

Ryan Quinn comes out with The Fall

Ryan Quinn calls being gay a "gift." There are challenges, sure – but, he says, "as you overcome them you gain the rewards of being more introspective and aware."

That gift has helped him as a writer. He’s "more attuned to the social mechanics of our culture, and the bigger picture of what makes each of us – or each character I’m writing about – who we are."

Quinn’s understanding of the human condition makes his first novel, The Fall, an intriguing work. Weaving together the perspectives of three characters – a film buff fantasizing about a football player, a football star bored with his girlfriend and a burned-out classical musical prodigy – it examines their unexpected relationships at college. The gay aspect bubbles up often, but not obtrusively. It’s a realistic look at contemporary friendships and coming of age, and it works because Quinn is not far removed from that world himself.

A native of Alaska, he was skiing by age 3. Earning a ski team scholarship, he headed to the lower 48 – the University of Utah – for college. He was a two-time All-American in cross country skiing, and as a senior in 2003 the Utes won a national championship.

Quinn came out to his teammates during sophomore year. He knew no other openly gay college athletes anywhere – but even in Salt Lake City, his teammates and coaches were "extraordinarily supportive." He found that when people "put a face to what it means to be gay," they are less likely to be homophobic. That, Quinn says, is why gay people should come out. He knows "dozens and dozens" of out athletes – and not one has regretted the decision.

After writing an article for Outsports.com in 2003 about his experiences at Utah, he was flooded with responses. He realized the impact a writer can have. He moved to New York to work in publishing, and became obsessed with the idea of identity. He realized that college is a time of understanding one’s identity. The Fall developed from there.

Quinn weaved several passions – sports, classical music, wine, art history – into the story. When he began, he assumed he would identify most closely with Ian – the gay college athlete in the midst of coming out. To Quinn’s surprise, he found himself intensely drawn to the other two main characters too.

Still, his sports background informed the book on two levels. Though none of the events he describes is autobiographical, his experience as a college athlete helped him understand what it’s like to be on a team, to share the weight room with football players, to go to jocks’ parties, to feel the atmosphere of a sports-minded university.

With the exception of one person – a football player Quinn had a crush on in college, much like Ian does in the book – none of the characters represent someone in real life. They are composites – but Quinn brings them to life, with dialogue and detail.

Yet Quinn’s athletic training also provided the discipline he needed to write. Like cross-country skiing, novel-writing demands endurance. "It requires putting in time day after day, even when you’re not particularly motivated," he says. "Taking time off just isn’t a choice if you’re serious about the end goal."

The Fall fills an important niche. Young adult literature has proven receptive to gay themes, and several recent books focus on high school athletes’ same-sex attractions. By making his characters college seniors, Quinn stakes out a different spot on the sexuality-and-age continuum. With the real world beckoning, life – and life’s choices – becomes a bit more serious; the stakes a bit higher.

The book has been out for only a month, but reaction is positive." This isn’t a gay novel," one reviewer wrote on Amazon.

"It doesn’t contain characters in drag and glitter, betrothed to drama, gossip and victimhood. It’s the coming out story of normal guys, who are completely comfortable in a world of pigskin and beer pong. It’s the ‘gay world’ in which they’re out of place. Any questioning youth who identifies more as a jock than a diva should read this novel – and make this well-told fictional story his own."

Marketing a book in 2011 is hard – and gay books are even harder. Many LGBT bookstores have closed; mainstream booksellers are consolidating their gay sections. With his background in publishing, Quinn knows he cannot position The Fall as either a gay novel or a sports novel. It is, he says, "a coming-of-age journey."

Maybe that’s the important point about novels in today’s age. Just as out college athletes don’t want to be identified solely by their sport or their sexuality, books don’t need to be categorized. The Fall is about growing up in modern America. And that’s something everyone – gay or straight, male or female, jock or musician – can relate to.