I think the point of the article disagrees with you? Like, to my reading, the hypothesis is that T. Gondii should be under selective pressure to support its host mating, because that aids its spread.
From the background paragraph:
> However, if parasites diminish a host’s health and attractiveness to such an extent that finding a mate becomes almost impossible, the parasite would decrease its odds of reproducing and passing to the next generation. There is evidence that Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) manipulates phenotypic characteristics of its intermediate hosts to increase its spread.
And the conclusions paragraph:
> Our results suggest that some sexually transmitted parasites, such as T. gondii, may produce changes in the appearance and behavior of the human host, either as a by-product of the infection or as the result of the manipulation of the parasite to increase its spread to new hosts. Taken together, these results lay the foundation for future research on the manipulation of the human host by sexually transmitted pathogens and parasites.
It's hard to read that as anything other than the authors classifiying T. gondii as a "sexually transmitted parasite".
I don't know how to reconcile that with what you're saying. Am I missing something?