I mean in all honesty, the real issue is just the incredibly low amount of romance options.
You got 4, a maximum of 2 per playthrough. If you use a fem voice on male body or male voice on fem body, you reduce this to 1 per playthrough.
(River wards on fem body, Panam on male body)
So if you only have so few, giving the characters predefined sexualities, all of them being either exclusively straight or exclusively gay, seems to be a weird writing choice.
But what I have to say, what bugged me personally was the way the dialogue railroads your backstory in certain romances.
Like take River, I tell him "My previous relationships were all disasters" and then the game forces me to tell him of three previous boyfriends. No option to tell him about a girlfriend, no option to say nothing. No, I HAVE to talk about 3 previous boyfriends.
Judy on the other hand is super non-commital in all of that, no backstory you can share of previous girlfriends. And that feels really weird, actively playing a bisexual character and being railroaded into "Yea all may boyfriends were bad".
So yea, I have to agree that the romances are awkward. But on the other hand, I also appreciate the nihilism, in this. There just isnt someone for everybody. And you may just not be able to find your one true love in this city.
I mean after all, every romance only has one ending, where you can stay with them anyways.
PS: When I first met River Ward, I was 100% certain the guy was gay. I was quite surprised to see he wasnt.
I mean, you can make the point, that most characters in this world are so eccentric, they would fit a gay stereotype. I mean, if River was gay, I would've thought it was a stereotype.