I'd say it's up in the air as to whether such things exist in-game or not, especially when some players insist on treating even an innocent friendship as proof that two characters are intending to hook up with one another. Or, more bizarrely, they insist on 'shipping' characters that have no meaningful links to one another in the first place.

A lot of studies on the subject are also likely to be coloured by bias and written by those with a bit of a chip on their shoulder, as is often a risk when it comes to discussing 'representation' in general. It often excludes the viewpoints of those of us who are gay but aren't particularly interested in representation for the sake of representation.