I don't get why he'd be offended by that in the first place. I'm sure he's used to plenty of harrassment from his superiors, and I keep calling dudes Ladies (and Ladies Dude for that matter) all the time and nobody, regardless if straight or gay, has ever been offended the least bit, ever. If anything, this seems like a jab at speechifying, overly political correct people, and even then it's a strawman.