[Dueller]

Dottore...I really would like to know your exposure to the deep south. I live in Mississippi fer god's sake and I find a high degree of tolerance, perhaps moreso than more "sophisticated" areas of the country.

To wit: Saturday night I was in my wife's bar/restaraunt and observed two openly gay men in a booth, a table of black couples, a group of car salesmen (about half black/half white) boisterously celebrating a great January, two white men watching the Nascar race on one of the TV's, one openly lesbian patron, a mixed race couple in another booth, along with various other "normal" patrons. There was even two soccer coaches in...one from Scotland and one from Ireland and THEY got along...lol

Amazingly they all co-existed peacefully...even when one of the Nascar fans asked one of the black patrons if he minded switching from a basketball game to the race.

Granted, there have been historically ugly incidents in the relatively recent past, but its becomming apparent you've not paid a visit to the new South of late.