Hey Jeremy, is this commonplace in the South?

[ttiwed]

I was reading your profile and decided to check out your website.

http://jeremyandlaw.bravehost.com/Dietz.html

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"What's going on? Are gay people taking over the

world? If one didn't know better you would think

everybody else but us were peterpuffers if you went by

the media. Gay people are all over TV. Gay people

are all over the airwaves. Some guy with a severe

Lisp who sounds really gay sings the Cable One

(Comcast on the Coast) jingle. What's going on?

Massachusetts today married their first legally gay

couples. Awe, how (puke) sweet! Look, I'm all about

some privacy. If people want to be stupid and gay in

their private lives that's their business. Who am I

to tell them what to do in the privacy of their own

homes? I could really care less. However, who are

they to redefine marriage as being with Adam and Steve

and Shelia and Suzanne or something like that. The

really goofy thing here is the Massachusetts Supreme

Court ruled 4-1 in favor of this. Guess who cast the

dissenting vote. A lesbian! That's right! She was

angry with the other four because they purposely

sought out for a loophole so they could garner profits

by being advocates of fudgepackers. She is in no way

against gay marriage she just wants it to become legal

in a legitimate way.

That is a gay smiley face, meaning happy!"

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i was wondering, is that a common view of homosexuality in the south (i noticed you're from mississippi)? if i had a website and posted that for all my friends to see, tomorrow i wouldn't have friends anymore. even the homophobic people from my area don't have the bravado to express such views so openly. in other words, where i'm from, saying something like "gays are taking over the country" is considered a rather bigoted opinion.

i'm not trying to start a fight, but i had no idea portions of this country varied THAT much in ideology. since you posted those comments on your site, it must not be considered really bad by mississippi standards (unless you're a real jerk). but then again, wasn't mississippi one of the last states to get rid of segregation, bans on interracial marriage, etc?

ps, i put this on the love board cause i'm seriously not trying to pick a fight. i'm genuinely curious about the views of homosexuality by y'all southern folk. 

[ruskiegirl]

Tolerance for ANYTHING that is not WASP (heterosexual obviously being a requirement of the aforementioned category) is not common in the deep South.  Having lived there for nearly ten years, and having the benefit of having lived in south Florida (culturally not a part of the "deep South") and New England, I experienced the spectrum of ideology as it relates to geographic location.  I found that most of the intolerance comes from lack of education and exposure to the particual thing not being tolerated.  The more rural (and arguably less educated) the area, the worse it is. 

[Ginatio]

hahaha. are southerners as eloquent as you, too? this is one of the reasons I didn't go to Emory.

"If people want to be stupid and gay ..."
"Some guy with a severe Lisp who sounds really gay..."
"Awe, how (puke) sweet!"
"The really goofy thing here is..."

i think someone set him up the bomb 

[Lipper316]

being in the military, I have met many many people from mississippi, missouri, etc. (the south). My understanding is that it is a whole different world down there. One guy I was bunked with in basic use to tell me how his high school still had 2 proms - one white and one black. This blew my mind, I grew up in brooklyn and now reside in a suburb of NYC. While not related to gay marriage, I think this is a good reflection of the ideology of the south. Who would have known, most of the south supports Bush. hmmmmmmmmmm, does this say something?

[ruskiegirl]

Jeremy has also shared with the world his very enlightened view on Islam:

"This is by far no religion of peace, but an evil force created by Satan himself to destroy God's people.  These people have been raised around destruction, hate and death.  It has been engraved in their minds the beliefs of the Koran, so there can be no talking or compromising with them.  The only way to defeat them is through war.  We must stand strong in our convictions and not back out of Iraq until the Islamic extremists are no more and democracy can reign instead of terror."

And (drumroll, please) my favorite quote from Jeremy's site:

"Be a conservationist of American freedom and democracy be voting to re-elect President George Bush."

Obviously, our friend has never heard of the PATRIOT Act.

[nola8688]

Jeremy has also shared with the world his very enlightened view on Islam:

"This is by far no religion of peace, but an evil force created by Satan himself to destroy God's people.  These people have been raised around destruction, hate and death.  It has been engraved in their minds the beliefs of the Koran, so there can be no talking or compromising with them.  The only way to defeat them is through war.  We must stand strong in our convictions and not back out of Iraq until the Islamic extremists are no more and democracy can reign instead of terror."

And (drumroll, please) my favorite quote from Jeremy's site:

"Be a conservationist of American freedom and democracy be voting to re-elect President George Bush."

Obviously, our friend has never heard of the PATRIOT Act.

Pure ignorance... 


BTW, New Orleans seemed to be another little pocket of at least somewhat middle of the road thinking in the south. Very gay friendly & laissez faire etc. This is compared to some time I spent in Mississippi.

[ttiwed]

hey, lets not make this a jeremy bashing thread. the rest of the country may disagree with the mainstream political ideologies of the less developed areas of the US, but lets refrain from picking apart jeremy's views for now.

in my understanding, the south is stereotypically a less tolerant region. however, a friend of mine who lived in alabama and thechoson claim that that state is actually pretty progressive. i dunno what to think. is there a significant difference between missippi and alabama?

[Sosua]

This is 100% normal in the south.

[jgruber]

the south is less diverse generally.

as far as tolerance, the south displays the same variety of beliefs as the rest of the country.  I haven't seen anything in the south that I haven't seen all over the country.

[nathanielmark]

Alabama is about as far from progressive as you can get.  they have some of the lowest business taxes in the nation (with the lowest funding for education, the poor, police, and healthcare).

last year a evangilist christian republican tried to increase some of the taxes on business and the wealthy to try to turn the state around. a huge PR campaign was unleashed and the poorest people (who would have benefited from the measures) wound up voting against it. 

i have been to alabama.  i am sure there are certain parts that are exceptions, but it might as well be another country for all intents and purposes.  its a scary place, i wouldnt live there if someone gave me a free house.  its the type of place where the sherrif could lock you up and throw away the key for porking his daughter and breaking her heart.