he, she, him, her, it?

Last night I hung out with that person in my dorm who has brown hair, plays soccer, likes pirates. Ohhh, my roommate. Trying to talk without using any gender-specific words makes communication very difficult and circuitous. That makes sense, because gender-specific pronouns eliminate half of the world's population and easily narrows down the possibilities of who you might be talking about. But talking gender neutrally leaves everyone open. I don't know if it's any better to speak like this. Is it any more politically correct? I don't think so...it's just using language to be convenient.