 The South is the gayest region in America. That's right, 35% of America's LGBTQ people live in the South. Suck on that California. Yet the South is also the region that's most uncomfortable with queer folks and has the weakest laws for protecting them in the workplace. You know, states like South Carolina don't have any anti-discrimination policy at all that covers people based on sexual orientation or gender identity. One study found that 50% of Southerners would be uncomfortable bringing a child to a same sex wedding, which is crazy because Southerners will attend a literal child's wedding. Do you know how it feels to be worse than the rest of America on attitudes about gay people? It's not like there's a lot of guys in South Boston going, it gets better. You know, I travel all over the country and the South does not corner the market on homophobia, okay? I mean, I can't even eat breakfast no more without a straight white dude staring at me down. At home, I make my dad do it. That's supportive. And where's your dad from? You know, he's from Union, South Carolina. And when he grew up, they still had segregated water fountains and stuff like that. So he's old school. But he had a gay water fountain and Union. I guess it ain't too surprising that the region responsible for truck nuts and Daisy Dukes would turn out to have a bunch of weird hangups about sexuality. To sum it up, in the South, we're so convinced we're macho the only type of therapy we'll go to is conversion therapy. And most of the South, you can still be fired just for being gay. That's crazy, because I can't think of any job where your sexual orientation would have an actual impact on your performance. Well, any legal job. In fact, societal homophobia has led a lot of queer folks to have highly developed emotional intelligence. I hear all this and I just, I think about my sweet angelic uncle, Tim, who's very much a rural queer, you know, everybody loves him because he's just so lovable. But yeah, I was gonna say, he's so lackable. Yeah, that's another gay superpower. Y'all know that, right? Oh yeah, absolutely. Charisma. Charm will keep you alive. LGBTQ discrimination costs US businesses about $230 billion a year. Another way of saying that is, businesses are paying $230 billion a year to not be around gay people. That $230 billion doesn't even cover the hidden human cost of not having a gay friend at work to tell you not to wear those pleated khakis anymore or to stop dancing with just your elbows. Some states in the South are even trying to undo the progress we had made, proving my theory that trying to fight prejudice is like trying to roller skate uphill. States are trying to say, even if a city wants to put protections in place for LGBTQ folks, and no, you can't do that. That's our job. And we're not ready to do that at this time. It's a real mixed bag out there, but change seems to be growing from the grassroots, which is the best way. In 2018, Wilton Manor, Florida, elected an all LGBTQ city council and Blue Ridge, Georgia revived its economy when it became a destination for same sex couples and now boast one of the highest gay populations in the state. So what do you guys think like a travel show for these new gay communities in the South would be like? We have like broad interests. So if you have a bike riding festival or for lesbians, if you have a croc fest where everybody just wears their sexiest crocs, all that's going to play. Oh, and one of my favorite examples of LGBTQ folks having the last laugh. Do y'all remember Kim Davis? She was that county clerk in Moorhead, Kentucky, who defied the Supreme Court and refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Not only did she go to jail for breaking the law, but this town of 7,600 people in the Appalachian foothills voted her out of office. After Moorhead kicked her to the curb, they had not one but two gay pride parades the next year. The whole town is only nine square miles. So you know they had to go right by her house. I hope they left a flaming bag on her porch from a gay dog.