Rainbow Boys

There's a scene in Alex Sanchez's Rainbow Boys that has always bothered me. It's when Kyle, the sweet but somewhat nerdy swimmer guy, goes to popular Jason's table and asks whether he can sit there. It's a big deal when Jason says no,and there's all sorts of drama, and I never worked out why that scene bugged me.
And then, on Thanksgiving, I did. It's because Kyle and his flamboyant friend Nelson and Jason (so, by extension, Sanchez) makes this a gay issue. Like, Jason doesn't want Kyle to sit with him because he's worried that the basketball players will find out that he and Kyle went on a date. But that's ridiculous, and (ironically) limiting. While I'm sure Jason didn't want to be outed by the socially less-than-ept Kyle, the primary reason to push Kyle away would be that Kyle isn't popular. So of course Jason doesn't want him there, and it's presumptuous at worst and idealistic at best for Kyle to assume that he could invite himself to that table.
It just bugged me that it becomes a gay issue, when it's really all about social strata.