I think you have to think about the fact that the kid is only 18. And people projected all kind of motivations onto him as a result of a role he was playing. THAT is why it's harmful. It's the way people assumed his unwillingness to share something personal or something he hadn't quite figured out meant that he was doing something malicious by taking the role. Or that being photographed holding a woman's hand is somehow a political statement when it was a candid someone else took (e.g. what if he had been holding a man's hand before that image was captured or after? we don't know!)
what's complicated here is that at the core of LGBTQ folks' concern is the lack of opportunity for LGBTQ actors to play a variety of lead roles in big films. And so if a straight actor is in a big part and is insufficiently - to the mind of audiences - supportive of the community, then it can feel like that opportunity was wasted on someone. I get that impulse, but there is no way for us as viewers to accurately ascertain when that is happening except in instances where a straight actor is using gay slurs.
Personally, I think we should err on the side of grace until we are shown otherwise AND we should be much more empathetic to the coming out process that individuals take. Everyone isn't coming out early even though it's easier than it was say 40 years ago.
Again - Kit is 18. Folks put SO much on him unnecessarily.
