I just put Sex on my character sheets instead of gender. I'm sympathetic to gender identity and what not, but I also don't know what half the terms are and I kind of feel it can be rather divisive at times if one player is insisting in pronouns that aren't he/ she, and I always worry that there may not be a separation between player character and the player themselves that might cause a bit of conflict between players.

It's just one of those hot button current issues that has to be handled with more tact than I think you're going to find in any particular group, and I like to keep my roleplays separate from current political climates.

For instance, on another site I stumbled across a roleplay that had a premise, and I am not exaggerating, that it was a dystopian future where heterosexual cisgendered whites ruled society and the nation and the player characters were required to be rebels who were ethnic and gender minorities; the GM was not accepting straight or white characters. No idea if that game ever got traction, but it always struck me as a roleplay that was needlessly combative and politically motivated.

 A general rule of thumb I have as a GM is to let players make the characters they want to play and help them refine those ideas into something that fits the game. If I were taking that game at face value, I'd kind of expect them to let players play either a character from the villainous group or a sympathizer, ao long as it worked for the group. Personally, I don't see what bearing having a game that emphasizes gender identity or sexual orientation has on like 95% of roleplays unless it's A) a romance game or B) is a game that has a central theme of discrimination, which to be fair seemed to be the case for this example, but it's also an incredibly sensitive topic. There's a comfortable degree of separation between real life and fantasy, so it's one thing about playing something like an elven alienage in Dragon Age as a setting, or a forbidden gay romance in a setting that is against that (say a Game of Thrones RP where nobles are expected to produce heirs) verses something like a game set during the holocaust in real life, or making a game that is inspired by controversial current events. All I'm saying is it's a lot easier to explore heavy and difficult themes if players don't have a personal stake in it or an agenda and the use of methaphorical stand ins verses contemporary things (what sounds easier and less controversial to write about; elven or Jewish genocide at the hands of a dictatorship?).

Ultimately, people write to enjoy themselves, tell a story, and for some people it's escapism. Roleplaying is a bit different than writing a novel because you really have to factor in the fact you're a part of a writing community and with it comes a certain amount of tact. Novels are something that you are only accountable to yourself.