I know you've been having a heated discussion with another poster, but please try to remember I'm not Shidaku.
I did say "I can't entirely blame them," and not "I can't blame them at all." Everyone has influences on their life that affect them, even if only subconsciously. I can't blame people for having those influences. But, we should all endeavor to be better people, to rise above our biases and try to treat people the way we would like to be treated. That means occasionally examining what we think, say, and do, and challenging our own preconceived notions. Sometimes, it takes others pointing out (preferably with some tact and decorum) a behaviour of ours to make us see influences and preconceived notions we weren't previously aware of.
A brief pause, an awkward silence that feels quite like eternity, instigated because my character is similar to how I am. Yeah, each and every time it makes me feel judged, as if this fact about me that's beyond my control somehow says something distasteful about me and the quality of my personal character. But, I've played a lot of RPGs, and it's come up enough that I've pretty much gotten used to it, sort of like getting used to a recurring headache.
Sure, we're playing a game together. That doesn't mean we have the same ideals about everything. I had a friend I played D&D (and Robotech) with turn skinhead on me. As long as he didn't bring that racist crap to the table I was fine with him being there (and, on retrospect, I'm glad I was. I think I provided him with a place where he could be around others who were different but friendly, a nice contrast to all that skinhead baggage and indoctrination). I did eventually have to ask him to leave when he couldn't abide by leaving the skinhead crap at the door.
It's a shame he went down that road, and that I couldn't influence him away from it. Before he got caught up in all that trash, he was a pretty good friend.
It's happened more than once, substantially. The games I play in don't shy away from sexuality. We don't go into details about the PCs engaging in sex, or anything like that, but we do see romance & sexuality as part of the "whole package" of the human (elf, dwarf, etc) experience.
As to the outcomes, there were times when the DM had gone along with it, and there were times when they didn't. Which is fine. I don't expect every NPC a character hits on to be interested in that character, regardless of whether it's my character or not, and regardless of whether the reason is the NPC's sexuality or some other factor (for example, I could easily see my Tiefling PC being rejected by another girl based on opinions about her fiendish lineage).
I won't say I'm not sensitive to the issue. I don't think I'm hypersensitive about it, but there is a measure of sensitivity there, sure. As far as reading more into their actions than are actually there, that is a mistake I have made in the past (I'm sure we've all made that mistake at some point), but not in this case. As I said, I actually asked them about it. The pause was not a matter of the DM trying to recall "was there anything in the NPC's description that makes it inconsistent for her to be gay?" It literally was a matter of "Is it appropriate for this barmaid (who was just made up on the spot and not described in the published adventure) to be gay?"
Any person who engages in public displays of affection is, effectively, telling everyone who can see them what their sexuality is. Not that I think that's a problem, but there is a big double standard in society about homosexuals "flaunting" or "shoving their sexuality in people's faces" by holding hands, hugging, or kissing in public when straight couples get an automatic pass on that. I'm also not saying you engage in that double standard, I'm just reminding you that it exists.