Although it can be tricky, language does change over time and not all at once, which means you need to be adaptive and always open to listening and learning if you want to be sensitive with your language choices. Especially if you want to be a writer, the fluidity of language is something you can't just handwave away as other people's petty sensitivities, this is our craft is it not?
It kind of comes down to priorities for me, which is more important: my story or the feelings of others? Personally, the feelings of others are far more important than some silly story. To others, the sanctity of their very important stories are far important than other people. I would gently suggest that perhaps its a little pompous to declare the first impulse you have in story writing is some sort of sacrosanct text, never to be sullied by insidious SJW interference, especially when there's a perfectly good alternative word that doesn't alienate your potential audience.
I know It can feel a bit galling when a word you and all your friends have been using for years without issue and now all of a sudden it's like you're going to get arrested and jailed for word crime, but you're not, it turns out that same word has been hurting real people that whole time and its now with the ever broadening internet, those people have been able to say "hey, when you use that word, it makes me feel like you hate me, could you stop?" and you can say no to that, but that person is probably not going to read your story anymore. You probably also just made them feel like trash, so, cool? And that's it, that's the consequence.
So: general advice, dust yourself off, get over it and find a new word, you're a writer after all :3