Interesting Fact: The word "bad" probably comes from "bǣddel" which in Old English means "hermaphrodite or womanish man." Most of you think it's not okay to use "hermaphrodite" or "effeminate" as pejoratives, so if you want to expunge words with problematic etymologies, you'd have to get rid of "bad" too.
Because of this, we can't solely look at etymology when determining whether a word is okay to use.
Other things we should look at:
Does the word mean the problematic thing now?
- "Bad" does not mean hermaphrodite now
Is the speaker actually using the word to malign the behaviors referenced by the category?
- "Ugh I can't believe those two guys are holding hands, that's gay" is actually referring to male affection and stigmatizing it.
What percentage of people will be bothered by the word?
- 1%? 10%? 50%?
This is not an exhaustive list, but I want people to think harder about the rules they use for stigmatizing the use of particular words.