I'm just gonna repeat what I said before; if you're making this liam neeson thing about 'racism' that says more about you than it does anything else.
That that is the part of the story you choose to focus on.
Like I said in an earlier analogy; if a dude is talking about his hard times as an alcoholic, living on the streets, sucking dick for crack, eating from trash cans, but managed to get straight, clean their life up and get back into society, and the listeners takeaway is "But you sucked DICK?", that tells you about the psychological makeup of the listener first and foremost.
They're either into a very specific kind of 'straight dudes being forced to suck dick' porn, or they're a homophobe and the part that sets their alarm bells ringing isn't the tragedy of a nearly wasted life, its a man sucking a dick.