Yea, I know what you mean. That was around the same time that patriotic came to mean war monger, capitalist came to mean evil oppressor of the working classes, wealthy or successful business person came to mean someone who doesnt pay their fair share and white or Caucasian came to mean racist.
I think gay to mean homosexual probably really didnt come into popular or widespread usage until the late 70s, the disco era, but had been used prior to that, particularly in some circles more as a code word as it was considered less pejorative than other terms.
*My* social circles never bothered themselves much with concern about pejoratives.