Yeah, no. Netflix didn't have anything to do with the retranslation. Studio Khara (the studio founded by Hideaki Anno, the creator of Evangelion, which owns all the rights to the series) made a new translation and new dub a requirement of licensing after they were extremely unhappy with Funimation's first dub of Evangelion 3.0 (the reason why the home release of 3.0 was delayed 3ish years was because Khara forced them to redo the dub with their own script).
Khara made the new translation for both the subs and the new dub in-house. They also cast the new dub actors themselves.
It's a very literal translation, that's all. It isn't kiddie-ized, and it isn't necessarily better or worse than the old, more localized translations. I also firmly believe the new dub is significantly better than the old in terms of both the new actors' performances (which are much more natural and less over-the-top/cartoony) and fidelity to the original sound design (no changed or added sound effects as in the original dub).
As far as translations go, it isn't better or worse. On the pro side, it's generally more precisely translated compared to the original Japanese without taking liberties (like "I'm so fucked up," which is NOT the Japanese line). On the con side, because it's so literal, it occasionally feels more awkward, especially when it comes to things that Khara dug in their heels about (namely calling Shinji the "Third Children" - apparently ADV had to fight tooth and nail to let Gainax say "Third Child" back in the day).
The queer references thing is overblown too. The Japanese line in that scene is an ambiguous word that can mean "love" or "like." ADV's original VHS subtitles used "like." ADV's dub and DVD subtitles used "love." Netflix is back to "like." But it's a guy telling another guy "I like you" while they're naked holding hands in a sauna - there's no gay erasure there, the scene is still very explicit in its intentions.
But I will say that the new translation for the line right before that (which now says "you're worthy of my grace") is a prime example of what I mentioned earlier when I said some of the new lines are awkward because they're too literal.
Overall, people are laser focused on specific things they've heard about the new dub/translation and decided it's awful because someone else told them it was instead of just giving it a chance for themselves.
Me? I found one service that does subtitles
https://thewordpoint.com/services/translation-service/subtitling and I really like the quality of the translation Japanese subs. I never much liked the ADV dub. But I do still prefer the old subs I have to the Netflix subs.
Now if only they had ponied up to get the rights to "Fly Me to the Moon"...