I was going to reply further + respond to some folks/make my early morning brain-fuzz post try to make a bit more sense, but... to be honest, I'm getting a lot of icky bi/panphobic vibes from much of the discussion.
So I'll just stand by my earlier assessment of Astarion's preferences based on his story and behavior towards both male and female characters, and say that sexuality in general - especially for bi/pansexual folks like myself and a few others in this thread - isn't always super clear-cut and exactly 100% one way or 50% both ways.
I think his story and the display of his past victims/potential old flames-lovers-whatever, is still fine. I think of the lot, Astarion is written probably the best out of the companions and written respectfully to the themes and issues present in his story. And that any feelings to the contrary are, respectfully, likely a person's own perceptions or biases more than anything. And it's fine to have those! Not so fine to be combative and argumentative with others who don't share them.
