I know a lot of gay people, and I think it's a generational thing. A lot of the older generation grew up wondering if they would be killed if they showed their true colors. For the newer generation, they know that some people still consider their behavior taboo, but at least they also see some positive acceptance. It's not at all surprising to me that some of the older generation get offended more easily.
As a straight guy with a sense of humor, I thought the car repair commercial was utterly hilarious and VERY true to life. I grew up in a fairly blue collar area and had something similar happen. In high school, me and a few of my friends went out and got loaded; we did what most Midwestern kids do when they're loaded... drive around in their cars and try to pick up some girls. We got a couple of girls who liked free beer and pot to hang out with us. Me and my friend were in the back seat with a real hottie between us. Smooth operator that I was, I decided to do the "Hey, baby, is that my hand on your leg?" move. I was really stoked that this girl (who was honestly out of my league) decided to reciprocate by holding my hand. I was a bit shy at that age and just kind of looked ahead while we held hands for a few minutes. Then it hit me... her hand sure was hairy for a girl! I started to pull away, at which time my friend on the other side of said hottie looked over. I'll never forget the look on his face when he realized that he'd been holding my hand the whole time--apparently he had the same lame ass move that I used. He went white. There was just an understanding between us that we would never speak of this moment.