Is the F-word the Same as the N-word?

Faggot. That term has been used a lot lately by a lot of high profile people such as Isaiah Washington of Grey's Anatomy and Ann Coulter, who has had her foot in her mouth more than once. Nigger. That term has been used towards thousands of African Americans for centuries, be it slavery or the civil rights movements. That term has been used as African Americans were lynched or beaten or raped because the color of their skin. So, the question is should they be considered the same?

There are a lot of gay people who wish to be treated as humans, who want the same rights as every other person in the world. A fellow writer at Associated Content has stated this on her article: "All the Gay Community is seeking is equality. We want the same rights as any other minority group. We want the same protections under the law. We want to be treated as humans, not subhuman." Though I understand where she is coming from and she feels that the gay community are being treated as subhuman, I don't understand how the gay community is not treated as equals. The gay community can vote. Gay women are just as equal as heterosexual women. Gay people can sit in the front of the bus. Gay people can use the same bathrooms as heterosexual people. They can get the same kind of service in a restaurant or a store as heterosexual people. Gay people were never slaves. The only problem that I do see is that they are having trouble getting married and because of that, they can lose custody of their children and they will not have rights as a spouse if their partner gets seriously ill or injured. However, the ban also applies to unmarried heterosexual couples as well. There are heterosexual people who are mean and they verbally and physically assault homosexual people, but those people are immediately targeted as committing a hate crime. Nobody would know a person's sexual preference unless the person puts it out there. A person of color, especially an African American person, can not hide their color.