i like to think major knight says "friendships" are more accepted out west not because the ncr is homophobic, which by every other example it isn't, but because he's an old urbanite queen whose idea of "friendship" is a casual no strings attached hookup with no commitment, and ideally a good rotation of them. the closest proper scene for something like that is vegas (a 2-4 day's trek each way), and there's not much in terms of people or private spaces immediately off the outpost with primm locked down. also, he's an officer.
with that background and perspective, then understandably a man can both dream enough, and be checked out enough, to believe the legion likes casual fun gay time because it's an army of entirely men in short skirts who live in close quarters. he does not care about their politics, because he is in logistics.
of course then he has to backpedal over having just complimented a totalitarian war machine/the enemy based on a fantasy, while also simultaneously aggressively lean-in committing to the courier's assumption that he's talking about good ole standard institutional homophobia right here specifically, because the alternative is clarifying that he's actually just an urban bicycle who lives and works on an outpost with a permanent staff of like 30.
