Anyway, I think their could be some truth to the perception. Once at a gay venue my girlfriend at the time got drunk and proposed to me in a very drunk and flamboyant way. With everybody watching.
. The best I could do was to laugh it off and point out that she was technically still married to her husband, whilst trying to spare her too much embarrassment and humiliation. But she was embarrassed and humiliated and hurt. A couple of gay men watching the drama unfold were intent on making the matter ten times worse and turning it into the kind of waking nightmare that would be very hard to live down
ever. I told them to stop, obviously, but they still went around talking to people and pointing and laughing, and said things to her later on to try to upset her. Months later, after we split up, a different man in the same venue said something about it all that she perceived as spiteful, and she headbutted him and broke his nose. I'm pretty sure he deserved it though. She was a very kind, smiley, sunshiny person.