No franchise on bigotry
by Jon Worley

My wife grew up in North Carolina and Tennessee. She considers herself "southern", with all the positive and negative connotations that sends. When she arrived at college, she put up a Confederate flag in her dorm room. It seemed natural.

Her friends were aghast, and she quickly learned how things were done "up north" (though as she went to school at the University of Missouri, which is situated in the "little Dixie" part of the state, the term "yankee" is still used there as an epithet). She took down her flag.

To her, this flag had nothing to do with racism. Against the counsel of many friends and relatives, in high school she was friendly with all sorts of people, black, white, gay, straight and so on. This is a trend that continues today. But she doesn't fly the rebel flag anymore, and she's a little more reticent about sharing her heritage.

As a "yankee" (I was even born in New York state), I've always maintained that southerners are, in general, more racist than northerners. I haven't considered much evidence other than the Civil War and the ugly scenes of the civil rights movement, but that has seemed conclusive enough for me.

My wife insists that northerners are more bigoted than southerners. My recent drive up to our new home in the Quaker State has begun to turn me to her position.

When driving from Florida to Pennsylvania, it is pretty natural to pass through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. And that's the way I went. I stopped off at the NC/SC border Friday night to sleep a bit, and then I arrived in York on Saturday.

Sunday afternoon, I was getting in my car when another drive came past and yelled, "Better not fuck me, gay boy, or I'll kill ya!" while throwing an aluminum can at me. Both projectiles missed the target.

I was confused for a moment. Yes, I have very long hair (it comes down to a couple inches above my belt line), but that has never been one of the "gay tip-offs". But when I got in my car and checked the rear-view, I realized what he was hollering about.

I've got a Pansy Division sticker on my car.

Along with about 30 other stickers proclaiming my appreciation for various bands, record labels and sports teams. But he saw the sticker with the big pink triangle and decided he'd had enough.

In contrast, no one in St. Pete ever hassled me about the sticker. When I got gas along the way (in the "highly bigoted" south, mind you), no one said anything. Indeed, when I walked into the Denny's at 3 in the morning Saturday, looking dead beat, there was no fear in the hostess' eyes. She seated me and served me as if I was the mayor.

But at the Wal-Mart in York, I had all sorts of people (including employees) staring at me, ushering children from my path and generally giving me a wide berth. And these folks hadn't even seen my highly offensive sticker. This sort of thing also happened at the grocery store, the hardware store and anywhere else I went, with the exception of the video store, where someone asked me what band I was in.

I know, York isn't as cosmopolitan as St. Pete, but come on. They build Harleys here. The band Live hails from York (though its members do have short hair). One of the biggest and best independent record labels and distributors, Relapse, is headquartered a few miles away in Millersville.

And I'm not scary-looking at all. Just the opposite. My appearance tends to fascinate kids of all ages, from babies to teenagers. Whenever I'm checking out at the grocery store, kids from all around stare at me with wonder and amusement. They're not afraid, just curious. At least until mom or dad goes, "Don't mess with him, Susie. He does drugs." Sometimes that doesn't even quell their inquisitiveness.

Add these experiences in with the news accounts of some recent nasty goings-on in Philadelphia, and I'm prepared to go halfway with my wife and say that southerners and northerners are, in general, equally bigoted. After all, it's impossible to corner the market on ignorance.

Jon Worley now lives in York, Pennsylvania. He is going to have track marks tattooed onto his arms next week, just to see what people will say.

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