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"People on the coasts sometimes respond to bad news out of the South, whether it’s abortion restrictions or homophobia, with exhortations that right-thinking people get the hell out, or even boycott the area if they don’t live there. This happens with Midwestern states too — but both regions are also full of people who support women’s rights and gay rights, and women and gay people who love aspects of their regional culture and would never want to leave. … Every area has its troubles, but when we dismiss whole swathes of the country as backward, we play into the hands of people like Sarah Palin who want to divide us up into “coastal elites” and “real Americans.” It is possible to be a redneck and gay, to be a lesbian who hunts, and, unfortunately, to be a Californian and a bigot."
