do you understand how tiring and ludicrous it is to pretend something you are not?

Yes, I do it every day. My masking is so solid that I even struggle to drop it when I’m alone.

Should we advice gays to pretend not being gay?

Only tangentially related, because of all of the hard (being murdered, being trafficked, being kicked out of home by their parents, etc) persecution that gays have historically faced. In comparison, autistic persecution has been more of the “soft” (not getting hired, not fitting in, being seen as weird, etc) variety. It’s not really a good faith comparison, because “autistic pride” isn’t really a thing.

It’s not my fault some of my coworkers stopped growing up immediately after leaving high school.

And yet it would still affect your chances of getting hired and/or fitting in with your coworkers. It’s not your fault, but it is your problem to deal with. And (aside from uprooting the entire system and only hiring coworkers who will tolerate unmasked autism) masking is the most straightforward way to deal with it.

I’m not saying it’s healthy in the long term. But that’s not what your post was about. Your post was about whether or not it would be a good idea to tell a potential employer that you hate listening to coworkers talk amongst themselves. If your goal is to get hired, then telling them that wouldn’t be a good idea. Because it would exclude you from being hired for “not being a good fit for the team.”

I just want to work and go home.

And finding a job like that is absolutely feasible… But expecting it out of every single coworker in a face-to-face job likely isn’t feasible. If that’s the vibe you’re going for, then maybe look into a work-from-home position, or something involving things instead of people. People like to prattle, especially about themselves.