When people say they can't sympathize with the characters?

Do they mean that they cannot sympathize with them because they're transvestites, lesbians, sluts, etc? What is it? If you were to switch all the characters out with "decent" "regular" folk then I bet this film would receive raves from those that cannot "sympathize" with the characters. Even they admit that they liked the movie but were kept from sympathizing with the characters because they were weird or extreme. It's obvious they can't sympathize because they don't want to. It would mean they would have to look past the dope, the homosexuality, the sin and the outright debauchery and see people. This movie is really ahead of its time and is really more for people have broken out of their shells and look at people at face value.