I would argue it sends the message that our tax codes for toys are stupid. Why are action figures taxed differently?

It's actually more meta then you think. Plenty of groups want to be treated fairly but at the same time want to maintain advantages. Marvel was basically arguing that mutant toys need an advantage over human toys to be treated fairly. I know that was not the real reason but practically speaking it's not unlike people fighting for affirmative action policies to help based on race instead of other non race criteria. Pushing race based policies to help only some of the disenfranchised people instead of more general policies that would still help people belonging to races that are most disenfranchised. For instance, helping all poor people.

It's not unlike having programs to push girls into STEM jobs but not having similar programs for boys or even complimentary programs to help get them into careers predominantly filled by women (like teachers and nursing).

It's a very complex problem. Take the quota systems designed to help black and Hispanic students get into better colleges by reducing standards for them. Is it fair? No. Is it needed to help certain students? Debatable but certainly is effective in helping those students get access to better education.