Very interesting! For a society that dreams to be as inclusive as ours, the western concept of binary gender needs to be abolished. Everything's cool and needs to be accepted. Nothing should be considered the norm or the other.

: Binary gender. For all we know, Miranda Keyes was born Mark. What does that
: change about her character? Well, let me answer that with another
: question: A few days ago, I thought you were born a female. Now I know you
: weren't. What does that change?

: Nothing. Because the sexual orientation of the Halo characters has jack to do
: with the story, and because I'm not going to treat you any less than
: human.

I appreciate your words and kindness, and I know you mean well, but there's a few terminology bits I have to clear up. Sexual orientation refers to a person's attraction to a particular, multiple, or all gender identities, or none. What you're referencing for me is the aforementioned gender identity that exists within all of us in a variety of ways, both cisgender or transgender, and binary or non-binary. Because of this, I was in fact born with a female's brain and a slightly altered male's physiology.

But yeah, I agree that there have been few concerns over gender and sexuality equality in 26th century human society that I've encountered in Halo. Felicia Sanderson was the first openly lesbian character in our universe and no problems arose in the story from merely her sexual orientation, just her actions that have resulted from it.

That being said, I doubt everything has been peaches and gravy since we first ventured out into the stars as colonists, and I wonder if humanity in 2553 still faces its own problems that we encounter today and in our past.

: And then there's race.
: For a lot of media, race is completely irrelevant to a character. Culture
: shapes their character a hell of a lot more, and believe me, what culture
: a person is from has little to do with the shape of their nose or the
: color of their skin.

I think that's more true going into the near future than it is today.

: Better reading.

Yeah, not at all. It's quite offensive actually.

Also, nitpick. Gender was a grammar term for how you referred to the different sexes. Being male or female is your Sex. Or at least, that’s what the word meant until colleges invented the Gender Studies major for those students who found Liberal Arts way too academically grueling.

As if no understanding of mental and physical health concepts and terminology has ever evolved over time. I trust the language used by doctors for medical science, experts in the field of gender and sexual studies, and those with personal experiences over that of a fiction writer who's never researched or faced gender issues for themselves.

I’m not against having a story where there are sexes other than male and female or neuters or schmes or hirs or WTF ever or that they flip back and forth or shit… robot sex. Hell, I don’t know. Write whatever tells your story.

So not only is the author informing his audience that acknowledging and including persons of non-binary gender identities is futile practice, but that they can't or shouldn't be respectfully included in a simple list. We're the "WTF ever" - the other person outside the norm. Conservative media sources and public commenters often joke on articles for trans issues that they're "trans species" or "trans race", often referencing the highly offensive portrayals seen in South Park. Many don't see people like myself as human. That's why they see it applicable to mention things like "robot sex" alongside us.

: *Note: When he says "Cismale gendernormative fascism/fascist",
: that's an in-joke. A troll lobbed that appellation at him, and he had to
: look up the first two words to get what it meant. He found the combination
: of two words that shrivel up and die outside of a Gender Studies class
: with a word that basically means "Someone I don't agree with"
: humorous.*

Cis is a Latin term translating loosely to "on the same side." When referring to a "cisgender" individual, cis male in this case, it acknowledges someone who's original physical characteristics matches their gender identity. It's real simple and I take concern to a society that refuses to understand transgender people and shame us by making us feel anything other than the norm, which cisgender people have achieved. Cis "dies outside of a Gender Studies class" (which it hasn't) because people don't want or see the need to make trans equal.