Basically tolkein was writing in a style most people do not understand today. It was pointed out in an essay (by Marion something - I forget her name) that legolas when the balrog comes screams. Today that would be a very sissy thing to do, but in the "time period" described, men showed emotion. It is an improper attitude, common nowadays, in men that to be manly is to shout and show no emotion. What is more, our culture no longer recognizes the distinction between lust and love (that could probably be traced back to a certain Sigmund Freud, but that is a whole different subject). Love between a man and woman in marriage is a commitment, not an infatuation. Most people do not recognize that. Since that is the prevailing idea in our culture, and since physical expression of emotion is so rare, Sam and Frodo's intense love expressed in physical ways - a kiss, a caress - is construed to be sexual.
That explains why people think this way. But the reasons against it are so many. REason number one - Sam had 14 children! Who could see that, and call Sam a homosexual.
Well, I know how infuriating it is to hear people accuse the two hobbits of such perversion. When I found out, I almost cried. How could they do that? But I have accepted that people will always do their best to pervert truth and beauty. (especially fan-fic writers <groan>)
I can only say that I'm glad I can read passages such as shelob's lair over and over, and savour the beauty of the description of Frodo asleep on Sam's lap (isn't that just the most poignant moment of the whole trilogy) and not see a trace of anything evil in it.
PS: beginning with the stairs, I believe Sam and Frodo's relationship to be really that of a father to a son, and who would blame a father for comforting his beloved child, naked or no?
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"Good bye, master, my dear! Forgive your Sam. He'll come back to this spot when the job's done - if he manages it." -TTT
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point - Lewis
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