First of all, I don't particularly care to hear or read words that I've heard while someone was bashing my face in because I was gay. I don't see where those words lose any of their hateful origins just because people are 'more lax' about things. Didn't California just vote to rescind gay marriage? How forward-thinking is that?
And I know Barry. I know Richard. I know most of the people that work at Zeus, if not by name, and I think I have an idea of their personality. To see Richard, a completely non-effeminate, non-stereotypical gay man (as portrayed in media and such) resort to such methods to illicit a cheap laugh irritates me.
Gay people are not in a position where we can be comfortable with being mocked, even in a roundabout way. We are not equal citizens yet, and we're not going to gain status by becoming the new Uncle Toms.