Except when I slip up, I don’t use the word “gay”. I use the word “homosexual” and sometimes “sodomist”. Also, starting this year, I stopped referring to negroes as “black” or “african american” in many instances. If, in a conversation, whites are called “caucasian” Then I call blacks “negroes”.
IOW, I discovered that PC had crept into my life and I’m trying to reel it in.
I'm the same way. "Gay," to me, means happy or joyful. I am also adamant about using "sex" instead of "gender," a term which should be confined to linguistics. And when writing dates, I insist on using "BC" and "AD" instead of "BCE" and "CE."