[grecy]

> Right, because there are no rednecks in the rest of the world, just an atmosphere of openness and a complete lack of xenophobia.

Of course not. This is not black-or-white, all-or-nothing. There are shades in between.

When a country makes discrimination illegal, it forces people to stop doing it and slowly over time their minds will change, because otherwise they'll run afoul of the law. These days discriminating against a gay person in Canada is akin to discriminating against someone because they're female - it's unheard of, and you'd be quickly silenced and given a stern talking to, if not disciplined (if it was in the workplace)

If the US would hurry up and make discrimination of gay people illegal, the mind-set of people would slowly change. Maybe it would take a generation (or even two), but it's better to start that process now than x years from now.