Coulter and the term "faggot"

Ann Coulter's use of the word "faggot" while referring to John Edwards was completely inappropriate because she is smart enough to know what the word means in popular culture. Furthermore, her "joke" would have been meaningless if all she really meant was to call Edwards a wuss. Her defense was frustrating to watch because she was constantly rolling her eyes, interrupting the reporter (quick question: who was the guy on the right and why was he on camera when he never said anything?), and skirting around the questions she was being asked. I have no respect for Ann Coulter and I wish people would just ignore her.

Putting Ann Coulter aside, I will admit that I did not know that the word faggot for gays was so similar to n***** for blacks. I have never used either word because I don't need to. I can call a homosexual "gay" and an African American "black." Nothing more is needed and it's not worth crossing any fuzzy lines. Anyway, I did some hard-core research (a.k.a. wikipedia) on the origins and use of the word faggot and found that it does not share a similar history to the word n*****. Although faggot does mean a bundle of sticks, it was not an established English practice to burn gay men (although it could have happened) and the term faggot was not used to refer to a gay man until the 1900's. Whereas n***** was used as a hateful term towards black people during the established practice of slavery, faggot was simply picked up by American pop culture.

It troubles me that faggot is becoming synonymous to the word n***** because the world does not need another derogatory term to get upset over. I think it's stupid that gay people are starting to embrace the word faggot and playfully calling it to each other just like black people use n*****. Why create another word whose meaning depends on race, context, class, speaker, and now sexual orientation? I disagree with Ann Coulter when she says that it's totalitarian to forbid the use of some words. If certain words like n***** and faggot have hate-filled meanings, no one should use them so life can move on.