If it's optional and you have to go out of your way to initiate it why would it bother you?
I intensely dislike homosex stuff but I wasn't bothered by it once in baldurs gate. I just had my male character and the harem of women companions most of the time. I did take the male characters for their quest stuff and into areas where they had unique interactions and never had any homosexual stuff pop up on me.
because its uncutting motivations. its suggesting there is no difference. any bromance could just instantly become gay. male friendships and gay romances are not 1 character decision away from being the same. the variance between a lifelong brotherhood, and gay sex is not 1, or 2 in a dialogue tree. this kind of bs, is how we get people thinking sam and frodo are a heartbeat away from kissing.
This could maybe only work if you outright choose in character creation, is henry gay/bi, and then from there every dialogue choice was different, and the camera lingered on hans, not the local womans chest, etc.
or better yet, just don't do it. as it damages the concept of male friendship, and creates a scenario where even the slightest bit of male friendship now has to question, is this gay?
as OU ari pointed out, BG3, and every other rpg has this problem still. you need to tiptoe around every dialogue in case of accidently sparking the gay romance, as every character is player sexual these days.
but it IS worse here, as this isn't a party based rpg. This is very much a sam and frodo journey of two brothers. tainting THAT is not the same as just random hookup bs in baldur's gate.
