I thought that this debate has ended several years ago now?  

Frankly I could not care less about whether or not bitcoin is legal tender. As you say legal tender status is just a government endorsement, which means very little when it comes to actual adoption. We've seen massive growth in BTC adoption, both as a store of value and medium of transaction, without it having been recognised as legal tender in most advanced nations.

There are plenty of merchants that accept BTC already who don't care either. And you are always free to convert your BTC into fiat in order to spend, if that's what you desire.