Well, despite all my rhetoric, in my town I haven't really seen any anti-LGBT activity. Nobody has ever given me a hard time or really even so much as a second look. I dress down so I'm not sure if it's because I blend in well or something else but everyone is nice. Even in complete male mode (except for my hair), picking up estradiol at the military pharmacy people are all smiles and even seem to go out of their way to be helpful. That's kind of how everyone is in the military but I have never felt any hostility of any kind.
That said, Georgia is somewhat progressive compared to the other Southern states and my town in particular is heavily military so people here are accustomed to quite a bit of diversity. We train lots of foreigners here from places all over the world.
Maybe if I lived in a small insular place I might have a different experience.
A few years ago I was involved in a Southern heritage organization and heavily involved in Civil War reenacting. There were lots of rednecks there, LOL, but mostly they were pretty good people. However, there was also quite a bit of racism not too far under the surface. It's not as out in the open as it was when I was a child but it's still there to a lesser degree. Really, that was what made me drop all of that. I found a booth at an event selling anti miscegenation CDs from some Baptist preacher which infuriated me as my wife is from a different ethnic group.
This stuff is just passed down from generation to generation so it takes a long time to die out.
Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote
