The content is there, why should I deny myself access to information if I find the entity gatekeeping it abhorrent? Should I also deny myself access to NIH data because of my feelings toward the US government?

Its not "gatekeeping". Its called paying for a service. NIH is funded by US taxpayers. Youtube isn't- they need to pay for the servers; it isn't free, you know.

You wanna pay someone else, feel free- vimeo, and a zillion other platforms exist - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_video_platforms

I think the idea is that you would have issues if someone decided to "fix" the gatekeeping of your wallet ...

Many creators offer patron or other services, I think you would be hard press to find any creator who only publishes their content on YouTube. You can subscribe to their services elsewhere.