All I can say, is me and my mates in provincial South West England all boys grammar school
shunned American imperialist swear-words on principle...
I still do...

We had our own perfectly good [though now rightly unacceptable] terms for each other such as "bender" and "bumboy".
Which I'd argue were relatively comical,
and lacked the depth of sheer homophobic hatred embedded in USA use of "faggot"...???

Besides which a faggot is a popular savoury meal round these west country parts...

As I recall, actual homosexual activity was as far as we could see completely unknown amongst our school community
We assumed that was more prevalent in exclusive posh public schools...

By the mid 70s, when we did actually have gay friends in bands and youth theatre,
no big deal - we came of age via glam rock and popular youth media depictions
of fashionable androginy and bisexuality...

Us straight and gay college mates camping it up together in small villages
just to wind up the tory young farmers was great sport...

...until they started getting violent....