Yeah I'm not sure that's the best way to go about it. Gender plays little-to-no role in being friends with someone. I'm too old to let sexual whatever get in the way (and too committed to the one person that seems to love me just as I am).
Sex [noun] absolutely plays a role in friendship. The intimacy of sexual relationship is a pertinent difference to a relationship the possibility of which changes the way people interact across the sexes. It may not be (as) pertinent to those who're bisexual/asexual/whatever.
You appear to intimate that if you were younger and unattached sex would pay a role, but that at odds with your 2nd sentence. Perhaps you could expand on your reasoning?