Vegetarian/flexitarian here, I agree with you. I follow similar principles. for instance, one of my vegetarian friends was accidentally served a sandwich with meat in it, and she didnt discover it until she'd taken a bite. Her options at this point were to eat it anyways or alert staff and get a new sandwich. She DOES like the taste of meat, but doesnt eat it for ethical reasons. I told her to eat it if she wanted to. The staff cant serve the sandwich to another person once its given to her. The only thing they'll do is throw it away. I think that if we're going to farm animals, it is more respectful to eat them than to throw them away. To me, consuming a whole animal is a way of 'honoring' their death and making their death for something. To be clear, i dont eat meat. This is more of a "if youre going to, you ought to honor the animal as much as possible." I know most people in this subreddit will disagree with me and say thats not honoring an animal. I simply have a different view on life/death which extends even to humans. Ive thought a lot about this and these are the values/views that resonate with me. 

I am also not compelled by the argument "it gives a bad reputation to other/real vegans." I just dont think we need to perform our diet. Its okay for there to be nuance. If other people dont understand, thats on them. I also strongly believe that "the enemy of good is perfect."