that sucks. i think its mostly an issue amongst cishet folks due to the culture of viewing platonic relationships between genders as a thing that can only lead to sex being particularly prevalent amongst them. ive had this issue crop up with folks who couldnt see past my physical presentation, and thus decided for me that i was interested romantically, because obviously i had to be, why wouldnt i be, are they not good enough for me, etc

and honestly it wouldnt even be an issue if people could just handle rejection.

it sucks, and we all deserve more friends