Yeah, unfortunately online commenting has gotten to the point where people can make an argument that *any* avenue of inclusion is bad.

Characters openly address new character's pronouns/identity/etc.? "Oh look, the author's trying to include a token (insert identity here), just to win brownie points!" Characters don't make a big deal about it? "Oh look, the author's trying to have their cake and eat it too, implying without *officially* saying they're (insert identity here)!"

Of course, considering who his main (or, well, formerly-main-before-this-became-a-purely-ensemble-webcomic) character has been dating for the past few years, I'm sure Jeph's well past the point of expecting he can please everyone and is just doing what feels right for his story.