Pride and Prejudice

i'm going to start this post with a definition of the word prejudice-

prejudice- 1. an unfavorable opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought or reason.  2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.  3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious or national group.

as a gay man living in the midwest i've had to listen to a lot of crap about the midwest and the south from people who claim to be open minded and want equality for everyone.

so i went and looked up crime stats.  funny, it seems more hate crimes based on sexual orientation occured in the state of california than any where else in the united states.

i came across several stories about how violence against gays is increasing in new york city.  why is that?

you know the midwest and the south is constantly being stereotyped as a bunch of ignorant, inbreed, banjo playing, racist rednecks full of hate.  the media constantly uses this stereotype and so do the so called open minded people of these so called tolerant cities such as new york and los angeles.

but we're not like that and i for one am tired of being portrayed that way.  if you look at the definition of prejudice you'll see that this fits perfectly.  the people of these so called tolerant areas of the u.s. are prejudging us before they've even met us.  i recently came across a blog where a gay man and his partner were relocating across the u.s. from new york to seattle.  it described how they were apprehensive about traveling through kansas and wyoming.  afraid of kansas?  you're kidding, right?

it's illegal in the country of uganda to be homosexual and you can be executed for it.  yet somehow the american midwest and the south are the devil incarnate.  i don't get it.  we're not the enemy, it's the people that murder us that are the enemy.