What if you want to discuss someone's romantic life, but don't know his or her sexual orientation, so have no clue what gender his or her partners will be? What if they're bisexual, and their partner could be either gender?
It can be especially confusing if the person in question is polyamorous and has multiple romantic companions of both genders.
It can be especially confusing if you are the bisexual, polyamorist, or bisexual polyamorist attempting to describe your not-quite-yet-serious companions.
"Partner" does not solve this problem. Partner is altogether too serious. Even if Partner does sound rather like someone you work with at your law firm, it still implies a level of commitment that might not be there. It isn't appropriate to describe someone's companion as a Partner if they're merely at "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" - making their first joint purchase of a CD at Amoeba Records, not their first joint purchase of a CD at Bank of Outer Slobbovia.
To that end, I propose a new term:
PERSONFRIEND.
"Personfriend" has the same connotations as "Boyfriend" or "Girlfriend", but with the benefit of gender-neutrality. Your personfriend can be a boy, a girl, an androgyne, or a member of a five-sexed alien species.
It also has the same delightful neutrality and vagueness as either of those terms...
"Is s/he my personfriend? Well... s/he is a person... and s/he is my friend!"
Personfriend.
