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Benjamin Barrett raises the issue of dictionary entries like the following:

なんぱ軟派...
◇ 軟派する／（異性をひっかける）pick up a girl [a boy];（異性と遊び回る）play [《話》 run] around with a girl [a boy]. (ニューセンチュリー和英辞典)

あい‐じょう【愛情】...
(2) 異性を恋い慕う感情。「―を抱く」（広辞苑）

cou･ple
1a 《密接な関係にある》二つ, 一対 (pair), 二人; 男女一組, 《特に》夫婦; 婚約中の男女; ダンスの男女一組, ペア;...（リーダーズ英和辞典）

The point is that the references to 異性 and 男女 imply that words like 軟派, 愛情, and "couple" apply only to heterosexuals and exclude gay people.

I see that the entry for "couple" in Webster's Collegiate has been revised, presumably to avoid such discrimination and to reflect how the word is currently used:

1 a. a man and woman married, engaged, or otherwise paired (10th edition, 1993)

1 a. two persons married, engaged, or otherwise romantically paired (11th edition, 2003)

(September 6, 2003)