As an Aussie who lived in Georgia as a teenager for a while in the late '80s, I have to say that it was a truly bizarre place.
Maybe Savannah has changed since then, but that place was just disturbingly odd. And no, I didn’t learn anything from my time there, although I did gain a lifelong determination to not be a bigoted twat.
You must have really good luck. I’ve lived in New York for my whole life, on Manhattan for the past fifteen years or so, and I haven’t found a good transgendered lesbian theater group. No wonder people treat me like I’m a Republican or something.
What is a theater group, by the way?
It does have to do with personal preference. Heck, I only feel right where I live in a diverse community. (Currently Los Angeles area) I’ve met plenty of people from the south and they’ve all been, um, courteous. Until you tell them you voted for Obama, or that their imaginary god is simply a murderer, or that them there homos ain’t so bad once ya get ta know 'em.
If I ever go missing, you can tell the FBI that Locrian is definitely NOT in the south US, the middle east, and North Korea. 
The fact is that NYC tends to be far more diverse and more highly educated than most other parts of te country.
You can argue which part of the country is “worst” based on the subjective criteria of how well that region conforms to SDMB left-wing exceptionalist values. However, there are objective measurements for evaluating particular regions based on economic indicators, crime statistics, education levels, levels of health care and other measureable attributes.
You can see from this poverty heat map, much of the poverty in the US is centered around the Gulf States, Kentucky, West Virgina, Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico and Arizona.
And this map shows the “importance levels” of the rest of the world, relative to NYC.
You can’t realy argue that much of the South lags behind the rest of the country in terms of several key indicators. Although a lot of it depends on how far you are from major urban areas.
Culpeper? Do you know Wendy Pepper of project runway fame? 
SC, TX, OK and MS - nice to visit but you couldnt pay me to live there.
When I first moved to Atlanta, I was getting some things at the dollar store. There was a long line and I started talking to the woman next to me while we waited. When she found out I had just moved to the area, she got all excited and asked me if I’d found a church yet. I explained (politely) that I wasn’t a Christian and didn’t go to church, she did a 180 on the friendliness scale and started telling me why I had to become a Christian. She followed me into the parking lot after I’d bought my things, telling me how I was going to go to hell if I didn’t change my ways, etc. It was a little surreal.
I’m going to an Orthodox Jewish wedding in Atlanta next weekend. So that’s a counterexample to the assertion that everyone in the South must be a church-going Christian.
This is very much an IMHO topic. I’d much rather live in the South (or at least parts of it) than in the New England area, or SoCal, or a few other parts of the US. I don’t mind the heat & humidity as much as I do cold and snow and wind chill factors. I used to live in the PNW and quite liked it, but I missed a lot of Southern things when I was there. I live in Florida (where I grew up), but NOT SoFla; the area where I live is more like the South than it is like the Miami area. People here say y’all, everyone waves at each other on the neighborhood streets, and there are a lot of culturally “Southern” aspects of life around here. On the other hand, I don’t feel persecuted or excluded because I don’t go to church or watch football or have a right-wing bumper sticker on my Japanese import coupe or live in sin. There are some people I meet that I don’t care for, but there are plenty of decent ones as well. One thing I don’t miss about living in the PNW is the panhandlers I had to encounter on the way to and from work every day. I don’t see many homeless drug addicts hanging around street corners here (I don’t know where they hang around, but at least they don’t bug me for spare change and curse at me if I don’t give it).
Nowhere in America more closely culturally resembles Pakistan than Tennessee.
Which is a bit ironic since Australia has an international reputation for being one of the most racist countries on Earth, especially where Asians are concerned. (Recent study of Aussie racism)
Jeez, I HATE this one. I just moved to Virginia (Northwestern area, near W. Virginia border) and someone recently asked me what Church I belonged to. Cue embarassed stammering and evasive maneuvers. I wish it was polite to answer “None of your Damned Business!”
I’m TRYING to remain in the atheist closet here!
Other than the churchiness, I really like it here. It’s not a true “Southern” culture, not like the Deep South is. Haven’t encountered any outspoken racists or homophobes yet, unless you count the occasional person with a Confederate flag painted on their pickup.
Well, this one is a no-brainer for me. Though I’d rather avoid this invasion of my privacy, I prefer to assume the person asking genuinely intends to welcome me as opposed to winning points for wrangling a new convert/congregant. So I tell them I’ve been attending with a friend or attending the local Unitarian. I can’t live with the idea that a kind hearted person might fret over my everlasting soul or waste prayers on me, so I’d rather lie than task them with begging God to save me.
Since I know to expect this question from time to time, it’s easier to lie than to risk upsetting them, because I’d feel terrible if I left a stranger worrying over me unnecessarily.
I guess I don’t get out enough. I’ve lived in very religious Alabama for many years and don’t remember the last time my lack of church membership was a problem for me or for my non-church going mother even (who was from a generation that really defined themselves in part by church affiliation). Other than with my Holiness sister (and family doesn’t count), I associate with people who are either open minded Christians or non-theists like myself and it simply doesn’t come up.
I grew up in a tiny, church-y south Georgia town, and now live in a larger, less church-y south Georgia town. I’m seldom asked about my affiliation, but it very occasionally comes up. I tell those who ask (and it’s pretty much always a well-meaning preface to an invitation,) that I was raised in the Methodist church, and then change the subject to something innocuous. No fuss.
It seems to me to be a cultural difference, akin to using ma’am and sir in polite conversation. In another part of the country, a new acquaintance might casually mention getting together for a drink sometime. Around here, it’s church.
Yes, but that’s because the weather is awful. I’ll take the cold of a Midwest winter over the hot of a Southern summer every time.
Every place has good and bad people. My experiences in the South have been when I visited my friend who’s lived near Starkville, MS; Louisville, KY; and Durham, NC. We had some trips that took us to Nashville and Atlanta, and nowhere did I think the people were specifically more open- or closed-minded than in the Midwest, where I grew up. The only generalization I would make about the people (and this also based on some trips to Florida) is that Southerners don’t have great teeth. I have no explanation for that; it’s just something I started noticing.
Yep, it’s horrid. The Seattle Chill + The Portland Passive-Aggressive are enough to make anyone want to jump off a bridge. I don’t even know why anyone still lives here. Blegh.
msmith537 are you trying to use… scientific studies to back up your argument here?
I have heard all of this and more from people right here in the heartland.
Same. I’ve also heard some truly charming “jokes” about how the entire South should be blow up or cut off into the ocean.
I grew up in a small town in Kentucky, the product of an interracial marriage, and a great big queermo. It’s not the nightmare people want to think it is.
I’ve often wondered which I’d rather experience. I detest Alabama in August and I’ve never minded very cold weather, BUT since it never gets really cold here for more than a few days at a time I’ve wondered how I’d mind an extended stretch. (I think all long-time southerners know what it’s like to wear heavy coats and tee shirts in the same week or run the AC and the heat within 24 hours of each other.)
How in hell have you avoided doing a one man show in downtown Atlanta?
People seem disappointed when I tell them how many openly gay people and interracial couples there are down here.