Car Writer Resigns Over Use of 'Dykes' in Headline

Via Romenesko: Writer Steve Lang resigned from The Truth About Cars in protest of this headline on a story by Bertel Schmitt about small SUVs. There was also this bit:

The best-rated Detroit trucklet is the Buick Encore on place 6 with a poor Small Overlap rating. The Jeep Wrangler brings up the rear with a truly mediocre showing. Boo, hiss, Detroit – pussy-whipped by a Japanese transgender crossover that is also known as a “vag-wag?”

The writer preemptively notes:

P.S. Before you start to tar and feather me for Detroit bashing LGBT discrimination, please be notified that according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, the term “dyke” originated “as a derogatory label for a masculine woman, and this usage still exists.” Shame on them. “However, some persons attempt to use it in a manner that they see as positive, or as a neutral synonym for lesbian,” and those persons include the Schmitts.

Do you think the writer was just having some fun -- who hasn't made a Subaru lesbian joke? -- or do you think this is over the line?