Mastodon didn't have the same reactionary problem that #gnusocial did. (And to a point a good chunk of #pleroma)
Essentially I was free to explore myself and my identity here without childish comments from angsty privileged teens calling me a f** and talking about "degeneracy" as if their essentialist garbage was anything other then propaganda.
Mastodon was and still is freedom from cishet reactionaries taking it upon themselves to be cops online.