I don't think they're any more sexist and homophobic than other films of the time, and less so in some ways. It was during a period where censors were quite strict, which had the unintented consequence of making people write stronger female characters, because the blokes couldn't just snog them and get it over with. Ginger's characters are usually pretty awesome and rather feminist. I assume your friend is referring to the effeminate male type that's in most of the films, which is kind of annoying, but then, works like The Celluloid Closet actually argue that that stock character was a way of having queer visibility when any other kind was impossible.