There are many, many posts saying that people refuse to play race X because they didn't get a +2 in the primary ability of their chosen class. Now, you may not consider that to be about optimization but I think it's only because the word has been vilified.
People can't say "I refuse to play X if they're 5% less effective at some aspect." and then turn around and say "But it has nothing to do with effectiveness of the PC." Well, they can, but it's contradictory. If that 5% matters to you, there's nothing wrong with it. I've never seen the big deal but people have preferences and there's nothing wrong with it. Just fess up that you want your PC to be 5% more effective.