Being a queer person, I know the sharp, stinging edge of the word faggot. It’s been used to deride me before, and to a certain extent I’ve grown thick-skinned. The old cliché comes to mind here, “sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me,” and somewhere deep down I’ve internalized the saying, in a way deluding myself into believing it. This is why it came as such a surprise to me how once again being the target of the insult could have cut me so deeply, exposing old wounds I thought had healed over... 

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