Actually what was problematic about his death (to me) was that what APPEARED to save Gwen was the fact that she was pregnant. Because she was pregnant she was not allowed to be apart of the “I’m going to storm up to that ugly monster” brigade. And because of that she didn’t die.
The bigger picture seems to imply that because a straight couple can reproduce that straight couple survives, because Jack and Ianto cannot, Ianto dies.
I don’t know if that’s homophobic or not. My two cents is that, from a storytelling point of view, I agree with Ianto’s death. I think he had to die pointlessly like he did for several reasons. So I don’t disagree with his death (though I was as fucking grieved as everybody else when it happened believe me). However I have to admit that the “breeder happily ever after” ending of CoE did piss me off to no end when I first watched it.