Why'd he ever feel the need to apologize? After reading the emails back and forth, I don't see the problem - if anything, it's a language issue, people getting hung up on what it is to be "male/a man" "female/ a woman" and any combination there-of. All very silly if you ask me... he is just a "Comic Man"...
The twitter responses are what people were angry about.
Anyways he runs one of the biggest game conventions in the world. They have a huge following. He has a responsibility. He should listen when something comes up that he is ignorant of instead if digging in.