They were referencing fascist, not faggot. Both refer to a bundle of sticks.

But now that it's been brought up, and because I'm a little stoned and I'm looking for an excuse, I will share one of my favorite stories (that I sadly cannot remember the origin of, but possibly the Mahabharata)

A queen has 5 sons, and wants to teach them to rule together, to keep peace in the kingdom. She hands each son a stick, and tells them to break it. All the sticks break easily. Then she gathers 5 sticks and has each son attempt to break this bundle (faggot). Each son attempts and fails, before handing it to the next. When the last one fails, the queen tells her sons,

"Alone, each stick is weak and can be broken. But together, a faggot is unbreakable"

And all that is to explain why my next tattoo is just gonna be a tramp stamp of the words "unbreakable faggot" in fancy cursive on my lower back