The perception of elitism is down to the different perceptions of people who have experience with sessions and the unspoken rules which govern them, and those who don't have experience, and are complete newcomers.

I already agreed that the session scene in all genres of music has some groups who are very elitist, which is a problem for outsiders and newcomers to the folk music scene. Folk music, especially in the US, is usually perceived as one of the most democratic of the music genres. In my experience, British and Irish folk music scenes have become more elitist over time, just as the American folk music sessions have. We no longer seem to value the idea of "teaching the world to sing" in our sessions, and place a greater emphasis and value on our own enjoyment and the skill level of the musician.

This to me is the antithesis of what folk music was historically (ie anyone could learn to perform it). That can easily be perceived as elitist by people with little experience of folk music sessions of any genre of music (ie American old time, bluegrass, Irish, Anglo, Cajun).