A good example of the Hacker News reaction to gender topics (and no relation to partisan politics whatsoever) is what happened when a YC engineer launched a online community for women: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16159808

Not to get too meta, but the fact that "discussions of race/gender in tech == politics in general" is a call-out that many may not think of.

E.g., an article discussing women tech leaders may not seem like regular politics, but recent politics tend to prove otherwise.

There's nothing strange about drawing a distinction. You calling it "strange" in an attempt to create controversy where there is none is uncool.

Political discussion should be understood to mean discussion about the activities and policies of governments. Discussions about race/gender are far more often about tech companies internal policies, and thus a separate (but related) category.