I wasn’t shunned by any means for being gay - after coming out as a senior, I was chosen one of three captains.
I’m still not sure what made them more ignorant - the fact that they were using the word or the fact that they were using the word in front of an openly gay teammate. Typically, they would still apologize for it, but it wouldn’t stop them from using it again the next day or the next opportunity they had to let the word slip off their tongue without realizing its damaging consequences. I would look at them with a judgmental eye and say, “I’m not offended by your ignorance, that’s your own problem.” When that word was spoken in my presence as an openly gay student in the high school locker room, my water polo teammates would pause, realize what they said, and slowly look at me to see if I was offended. And more often than not, it’s been in a locker room. I’ve heard it spoken in my presence as a closeted gay man, been called it as a closeted gay man, and even been provoked by the word as an openly gay man. If I had a dollar for every time I was in the locker room and heard the word “faggot” in high school, I’d be a rich man.
