Inclined to agree, they're not the high lords of Umbriel who put on a ton of airs and would be the kind of people http://youtu.be/OM9jhGiIAFM

HeeHee! I don't know. Altmer strike me as the type of people that would deny they farted and blame it on somebody else preferably an Orc, I'm sure.

Human-elf offspring exist, which puts them in the same genus. These offspring can have offspring, which makes it clear they're the same species, if we are using Earthly taxonomy, which we shouldn't be.

Actually, one of the followers in-game that you can gather is an Orcish woman feels caged about the entire deal named Borgakh the Steel Heart. She just became of age and will be soon shipped off to some random warlord not of her choosing. There's also the smith in Markarth that left the Stronghold for similar reasons.

So no, the "equlity" aspect is not romantic. It rings true, but I personally don't buy "separate but equal". In Stronghold society women cannot rule to become warlords and men cannot learn to become shamans. Men are fated to either be killed on the battlefield or their son's hand while women can only bear children and fight. Granted this makes plenty sense knowing the background of the Orcs, but it hardly paints orcish society in a bright light.