Kids/teens in the mid-2000s would say "that's gay" all day long. They were not all homophobes, they were just saying a word that, in their world, was not a problem. I refuse to believe that every single person that said "gay" or "fag" in 2005 is a homophobe, because culture changes and context matters. It is so tremendously humbling to realize how much society can change in so little of a time... Hell, in 80-years, people might look back on those of us who eat meat as the lowest of the low, saying, "how could you defend someone who ate MEAT? The body of a LIVING creature!" It would be unfathomable to them to even consider it. I get your perspective, that racism is racism, and I agree with it, really, but it just goes deeper than that when considering different time periods. OP is definitely well within their rights to state how weird it is to read in today's context, though. Don't know why people aren't giving them that.

Explaining =/= defending.