Preach all you want, but the south is no more homophobic than any other region. Your own hefty bias only muddies the waters.
You can't possibly believe this is actually true. You think the South isn't any more homophobic than, say, the west coast? Really?
Here's some data, the first % is "Homosexuality should be accepted", the second is "Homosexuality should be discouraged": http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/vi...
First, a few states from the deep South:
Alabama - 41% :: 52%
Arkansas - 45% :: 47%
Georgia - 55% :: 38%
Mississippi - 40% :: 54%
South Carolina - 51% :: 42%
Now the west coast:
California - 69% :: 24%
Oregon - 66% :: 25%
Washington - 69% :: 27%
I lived in Alabama for a couple years. People are definitely more socially conservative there, and that does lend itself to homophobia. Not everyone who's a social conservative, of course, but it's definitely much more common than with social liberals.
I've also personally seen a friend assaulted with a brick on school grounds, on camera for being gay. The school and police refused to do anything against the assaulter.
I left Atlanta for a reason, and haven't looked back.
EDIT: would love to know why examples of institutional racism and homophobia in the south would be downvoted.
Do me a favor, go through this list and tell me what every single state with an acceptance rate below 50% has in common: http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/vi...
Meanwhile, the numbers for the NE and the western states are dramatically higher...