Ann Coulter - Part I

As I was doing research for a much longer post I'm planning to make about Ms. Coulter, I ran across this quote from her appearance Monday night on "Hannity and Colmes":

"Faggot isn't offensive to gays; it has nothing to do with gays," Coulter said on 'Hannity and Colmes' Monday night. "It's a schoolyard taunt meaning 'wuss,' and unless you're telling me that John Edwards is gay, it was not applied to a gay person."

Perhaps I'm not as intelligent as Ms. Coulter, so I might not understand what she is saying. What it looks like she is saying (to me) is that the term isn't offensive nor does it even apply to the group most of us think it applies to. But, since Edwards isn't gay, it wasn't applied to a gay person.

But, Ms. Coulter, you just said that the term has nothing to do with gays, nor is it offensive to gays, so why add the qualifier..."and unless you're telling me John Edwards is gay, it was not applied to a gay person." So....if John Edwards were gay, it would have been applied to a gay person. But, that wouldn't be a big deal, because (1) the term has nothing to do with gays and (2) even if it did, it isn't offensive to gays. The qualifier makes it appear (again to me) that she really doesn't believe the first part of her quote and is defending her use of the term by saying, since he isn't gay, it can't be offensive. So does that mean that if he were gay, it would be offensive? That is the impression I'm getting, even though she contradicts that by the first part of the quote.

I'm so confused. And, how can a non-gay person say what is or isn't offensive to a gay person? Can I say what is or isn't offensive to women? To minorities?