Yeah, Im kinda noticing that. Its possible its being a bit overblown. Apparently its not confirmed whether Ellie dies either. So the story has gone from playing as a trans character that hates gays and murders both antagonists, to it seems more like Joel is murdered by a group of people, the leader of which is a super buff chick. And that in and of itself leads to a bit of a catch 22. If they make her a small, feminine girl, then its bullshit because a "skinny 100 pound girl" takes out Joel from the first game. Making her a muscle bound, unattractive athlete makes it sympathetic to trans people.
At the end of the day, from a narrative point of view, Joel being murdered by the daughter of one of the doctors he killed is a perfectly logical extension of the story from the first game. Guess we'll see just how social justice-y it is on release.