Gay?

I haven't seen this posted anywhere so forgive if I'm duplicating.

ESPNU has decided to "bench" one of their color commentators for saying Gay.
I think it was Kinchens (sp?)

The way I read it, during the game while speaking of the way receivers do a good job of catching the ball Kinchen (paraphrasing) said that the receivers need to caress the ball with soft hands, then said I know that sounds gay but...

For that he will likely be fired, ESPNU released an apology as did Kinchen.

ok...my trouble with this is that homosexual behavior has become synonymous with Gay. 100 years ago gay was a happy word and "technically" still is. I realize that some would say in its context it was a bit disparaging.
But I think that it was an over-kill on the networks part. PC on steroids.

Would someone who is homosexual, which is, by the way, odd and queer in the truest since of the word have a right to really feel disparaged so much so that they would feel it was a fair penalty?