In short:

I do not believe it is the admins responsibility to act in loco parentis and I get _really prickly_ about people trying to "protect me from myself."

Not allowing it on public timelines is standard commons management and instances can absolutely do that if they like, but not allowing your users to follow is crossing a very, very weird line to me—and a far weirder and stronger line than with something like #meta—unless there is some cause of action that I'm not seeing.