I feel like I'm either not making sense or I'm skipping over things, but when I talk about Dirk's sexuality being integral to his character, I don't just mean that it's important because his relationship with Jake is part of the story, I'm talking about how Dirk's sexuality INFORMS how he behaves with Roxy and Jane as well. The fact he only likes men makes him feel like he's denying Roxy of the chance at love, and puts him at odds with Jane since they both like the same man, thus IF he dates Jake, he's denying HER happiness as well.

Dirk's whole relationship with the alpha kids does boil down to the fact his self loathing stems from him feeling like the odd one out for being gay. (And the irony is, all 4 of them feel like the odd one out for their own reasons; Roxy is just the only one who was able to directly confront that in due time.)

And that whole arc regarding his sexuality finally reaches a conclusion when he's able to see that his identity HAS a positive force behind it: He's able to provide Dave guidance on coming out. It's one of the many threads regarding how Dave and Dirk's eventual meeting was always going to be a cathartic one. Dave is meant to show Dirk that there IS good inside of him that he doesn't recognize BECAUSE he's nothing like the man Dave feared and Dirk is able to provide Dave closure on his anxieties regarding his own identity, having existed in the shadows of a man who abused him and whose identity he also misunderstood (like how all the beta kids misunderstand key aspects of their guardians.)

You can't divorce Dirk being gay from his story in Homestuck; and I think Hussie is at least aware of that, otherwise Dave could have asked Rose for coming out advice, but they particularly chose Dirk for that discussion.