Quick question: Does the gender of the characters matter?

I just ask since the prompt says "her" and I write gay male romance. In fact, I know some stories use neighbors for characters. There is a fun group of books that do the jock/nerd trope and one involves the single father next door along with Christmas, which was a good read. So, if it doesn't matter then I can get something together after I finish my YA NaNo as I could finish early this year.