When I lived in HI many years ago, on the Big Island I saw two men walking down the street holding hands, FOB (fressh off the boat) from a distance. Normal men, dark compected and I saw from the back so couldn’t tell if Samoan or maybe Filipino/other. Many other cultures are much more touchy with friendship than Americans. One of my oldest friends married a woman from Taiwan and we becamse friends. She was so much more touchy - would sit next to me sort of snuggly, etc. Totally non-perv.
>>She was so much more touchy
Some friends who did contract work in India described the different physical comfort distance there. He said that if it were possible to imagine an empty street with two men approaching from different directions in the middle of the night, they would reach the center together, bump into one another, and continue on.
On a bus, we tend to alternate sides and leave empty seats and rows, only filling up when there are no further spaces to leave. He described in India that three would fill a bus seat and that they would fill in from the front to the back leaving no gaps.
Another great story was how one scientist would move closer to him in conversation and he’d move back, and this dance would continue until he was physically backed against a wall.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Italy. Men don’t, but women are commonly seen walking the streets holding hands, and it’s quite obvious they are straight. It’s quite endearing and cute.