Additionally, when you first make the switch (at least circa 5 years ago), any iPhone-only group chats you were already in will need to be restarted (with some care taken by each iPhone user involved), otherwise you will not receive those messages because iOS will continue to treat it as an iMessage on others' end. It is very easy to miss out on communications this way, and from there it's not all that hard to fall out of touch with people who weren't closer friends to begin with. Either you need to be proactive or your larger social circle needs to be thoughtful and/or really like you.
So with all these issues, there is a bit of extra work involved for everyone when Android phones are involved. Some circles are so iPhone-heavy already it would be a little awkward to be that guy making the whole chat green. Couple it with a false perception that Android coincides with lower socioeconomic status (obviously not true for certain devices anyway) and it's easy to see shallow people being petty about them. Plus less tech literate circles just accidentally excluding people and you get a real fear of social hurdles.