A fellow JU blogger has once again thrown out misconceptions about the south that are outdated and skewed, and it's up to me to set the record straight!

Homosexuals: The south doesn't hate gays. Honestly, we really don't care what you do. Want proof? Look to Montrose in Houston, one of the largest gay communities in the USA. It's not known nation wide like San Frnaciso is, probably because it's just a regular community. No gay bashing, no killings, no protests...just good people, living together. The area also happens to be one of the best night life areas in Houston, with a heavy emphasis on art and culture.
Look to Miami, one of the largest alternative havens in the world. Gay men and women live openly on the sunny streets of Miami, without a care.
Visit Atlanta, and you'll quickly discover that Peachtree from Buckhead to downtown Atlanta is another gay community. No riots, no killings, no assaults on people because of their sexuality... once again just people, straight southerners and gay southerners, living together as southerners, not gay or straight.
My next door neighbor could be gay and I wouldn't care... as long as he/ she was a good neighbor. Keep the house up, mow the yard, maybe come over for a BBQ. I think alot of people reading this blog would be amazed how many people in the south are gay... and just live their lives without any worry at all, other than regular daily pressures all people face.

Guns. Everyone seems to think that every southerner is armed to the teeth. We aren't. I turn on the news and see gun fights in Los Angeles, Detroit, Kansas City, New York, Washington and Seattle every week. Once in awhile, Dallas or Little Rock make the news, or some guy hits Florida speeding away on some high speed chase, but for the most part we don't have the gun nuts most people associate us with. Many of us are armed, as is our 2nd Amendment right, but many of us are not. Luckily, we don't think anyone is "out to git us". Because if they tried, we'd shoot them dead.

Abortion. Why is it that having a moral compass, similar to the same moral values that the USA was founded upon, has become a bad thing? Some people, myself included, are cautious in the taking of innocent life. We have laws against killing and kidnapping 8year old children, because we are a society that values life. The question with abortion is, basically, where does our cautious value of human life end and a persons private rights begin? As a "pro-lifer", as some southerners are, we err on the side of caution, and think that after the third trimester, children, who can live outside the womb at this point, should be protected. Some of us believe they should be protected from conception... it's our right to have this opinion, just as it is others rights to believe that life does not start until birth. The discourse on this serious subject should not include either side insulting or making fun of the other.

I'm happy that I'm a southerner, and more importantly a Texan. Here in Texas, we run the largest space program in the world. More technology is developed in Texas than any other part of the USA, even the renowned Silicon Valley. Gays, straights, Hispanics, Asians and any other "type" of person you could imagine have made wonderful strides towards living together in harmony in Texas. We are all southerners. We have things we still need to work on. Dragging people behind trucks, like what happened with James Byrd a mere 6 years ago, is unacceptable to us Texans. The idiots that did this will answer for this crime against another Texan (James Byrd was not black to us, but a Texan, and we protect our own). We put people like these three under the needle... but if most of us we had our way, we'd probably hang them. And I'm certain many of you northerners would probably do the same, if you had your way.

So, we don't hate gays, we aren't scared our guns will be taken away, and we don't hate people because we all disagree on abortion. Their are radical elements everywhere. To truely appreciate the south visit our Florida beaches, see our scenery or be amazed at a weekend at some of the most modern cities in the USA... where people are friendly to you, regardless of your race, sexuality or religion.