The way it is written made me think that the author was deliberately avoiding (gendered) pronouns, either to be as vague as possible as to who the other person

The way it is written made me think that the author was deliberately avoiding (gendered) pronouns, either to be as vague as possible as to who the other person was, or to avoid the implication that homophobia played a role in this. Regardless of the actual reason, the style just made me distrust the author to some extent - it felt deliberately vague, leading to the (possibly unfair) conclusion that certain facts/events don't fit the narrative presented.