Shen Qingqiu flushes. He hadn't actually intended to say that out loud, but he couldn't just let Janet accuse him of being a bigot when he'd really tried his whole life (the relevant one)¹ to be an ally. "I, um. I want to take it," he repeats, and then, rolling his eyes, "to be gayer, why else?"

¹ The first one, because - again - there are no gay people in PIDW. It's weird how often he has to specify this in footnotes.