I don't mind scrapping the connotations that go with 'ladies' that don't appear to apply to gentlemen.
Which would that be?
In Germany, if you want to describe a man as very polite and well-behaved, perhaps with an emphasis on holding doors open for women, the word for that is "gentleman" - yes, the English word.
Does it have that same connotation in English?
Of course, the connotations of "lady" are different, because sexism, but I would not consider "gentleman" a word without connotations outside of "implying someone is landed gentry out of politeness"
(I consider it to have only that connotation in "Ladies and Gentlemen"; not always if "lady" is used on its own)
In Irish the polite term to address a person/people is 'a chara/a chairde' which directly translated means 'friend/friends' - which is nice but comes across a bit threatening in English!
Oh, that's nice. Perhaps one could establish it as normal term - don't Quakers also use it that way?
Or what about "citizen", which is used in the Imperial Radch series.
I like "comrade" but then, I lean left politically. Not exactly a neutral term.