Ann Coulter

In my high school, the issues of diversity and respect were emphasized often. It seemed that we had events like “Genocide Awareness Day,” “Black Culture Day,” or “ToBeGlad (Transgender, Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Awareness) Day” every other week. Although most of the student panels that replaced my usual classes on those special days have blurred together in my mind, there is one lesson I learned that remains vividly clear. I still remember the emotion that overcame one of my fellow students as he explained to us that the word “faggot” was originally used to describe a bundle of sticks for fuel and that the word was later adopted as a synonym for a homosexual male because the practice of burning homosexuals and other “heretics” at the stake became fairly common in England centuries ago. Because the word’s current connotation comes from such a hateful action, then, it is undoubtedly an extremely offensive term. In my mind, “faggot” and “nigger” are equivalent in that, no matter what their original definitions were, they have become tainted by their historical use as hateful slurs, and they are never acceptable to use.

I don’t know where Ann Coulter went to school, but I never heard words like “faggot” or “nigger” in my schoolyard (and I don’t imagine that most of us did) so it’s hard for me to believe that she truly thinks of the word as nothing more than a “schoolyard taunt” meaning “wuss.” Furthermore, even if Coulter does actually believe in that definition, she is a smart woman and must be aware that the word “faggot” has a negative, hateful connotation against homosexuals. While she may believe that the word doesn’t truly have an offensive meaning, she does know that it has an offensive implication. The word’s connotation has become more meaningful than its dictionary definition, and Coulter was completely in the wrong for using, no matter the context or situation.