The way we talk?

Ok just a quick mini rant sorry if this is pointless, I got a new job at front desk of a big hotel chain out in Phoenix, Arizona. Recently management has confronted me and asked me to stop calling all the female co-workers "hun" like I do. At first it didn't bother me because well they need to get to know me (I've only been here 2 weeks), calling someone "hun" is just like someone from the south saying "Ya'll" it's a harmless pointless phrase it doesn't mean anything AND I only direct this phrase at females NEVER males(except my best friend). Honestly I have been doing it for years even my dad pointed it out when he came out to visit me in Florida 3 years ago and asked if I could stop doing it, then hanging out with all my gay friends that he met he realized that's just how we talk. (Or at least my group did.)Now management went to my best friend (an hourly worker) to ask him to ask me to stop, which is slightly chicken on their behalf how ever I also felt when my best friend said it to me that it felt slightly homophobic of my managers. I can see it not being a homophobic attack but, without them providing a reason for me to not say "hun" even though they know it's harmless and just happens to be how I talk almost felt like a direct attack on who I am. I could be reading more into this, infact as I type this I feel how silly this rant sounds, but is there anyone else out there gay that just has a certain way of talking that they have been asked to stop doing it before and it almost felt like an attack on their character rather than constructive criticism to make you a more "professional" speaking person? I understand getting "used" to gays being around and how we talk/act will take sometime but sometimes this feels like there has been no progress at all in the way we talk.