I probably should stay far away from this thread but... what is so bad about gender assumptions? Yes I have read the key posts in the thread and I'm very sorry this bothers you so much but... is it really so important or so terrible that we make gender assumptions. Is it really even that prevalent? The only time gender or sexual orientation matters to me here is when it might be helpful in forming an answer to a post. We go through life relying on small irrelevant assumptions because asking about every small detail that doesn't seem important in our interactions with others would be incredibly time consuming.
It would also seem to be an invasion of privacy and very awkward to ask everyone we come into contact with to give us a detailed analysis of their sexuality/gender identifications.
The only important thing to me is what type of person you are. Are you good/bad/boring/interesting etc.
Why make life more complicated than it already is?