Oh please. Of course the term "faggot" is offensive. Regardless of how hard you try to justify it's use, or whether you care or not, the fact is that in most of the civilised world people will frown upon the use of the word "faggot" much than the terms "rookie" or "southpaw".
There's a reason for that - among the leftist elite that dictates our politically correct mores, sodomites are now a very fashionable and influential minority.
However, just because one does not kowtow to the sensibilities of the self-styled leftist elite it does not mean that one is a "bigot" or causing offense to rational people.
If you think that having sex with someone else's digestive tract is a laudable activity, then any turn of phrase which does not automatically genuflect to such bizarre tastes will probably be considered offensive by egomaniacs who believe that their ill-considered opinions are normative moral laws.
But that's faggots for you.