I can see entirely where you're coming from with this. A queer reading of LOTR is possible, as is a political or religious reading. Or you can simply read it as it is and leave it be.

I know, because of interactions with parents, grandparents and other older folk, that earlier generations were less obsessed with sex and sexuality than subsequent ones. It seems to me unlikely that Tolkien even thought of sex except as part of marriage. His use of terms like 'love' is in accordance with the way older writers such as Shakespeare and Malory used it, as a term for high regard, loyalty and friendship.

On another point, what is known about H P Lovecraft points more toward asexuality than gay.