Like I mentioned above, I did not want to make it a religious issue and just wanted to say that a good tradition is being questioned because of the misconceptions. Its a gay thing, or its not sunnah!!
We do a lot of good harmless acts which are not really sunnah. I also mentioned, the Prophet SAW did embrace people on some occasions. 
Eventually the Imam sahab or like minded people make people with good intention question their nice and kindly acts. Its a matter of semantics, but if Imam sahab (who people follow) had stated its still a good act instead of saying I am not against it , that would not have made people stop.
There are many issues to deal with rather than questioning a good friendly act.
I do not see the reason this matter dragged as well.