I agree, free speech is important. On the other hand, it costs you nothing to be kind in specific situations where someone requests that you use a particular set of pronouns for them.

The example you bring up about your previous boss is interesting. It sounds like it was you who didn’t respect yourself enough to ask him to use your name instead of the abbreviation. Making the generous assumption that your former boss is a reasonable person, I have no doubt he’d have adjusted how he addressed you, if you’d just asked.

All in all, we all have to find a balance between not getting trampled by political correctness, while showing kindness to our fellow humans.