Is Wisconsin really THAT conservative? (Milwaukee, Madison: home, middle school, living in)

[DAP443]

My sister's gay best friend just came back from Wisconsin, after visiting his mom. When he called her, he was so angry, words cannot describe. He just generalized the state as "rude, obnoxious, and downright judgmental". Is it true for every city in Wisconsin? I have never been there myself.

[geekduo]

I'm sorry about your friends experience. We don't all feel that way. There is a healthy gay community in Madison and Milwaukee. I'm not sure about the other cities. We do have our share of rednecks though. Especially in the smaller towns and more rural areas. But, that does not mean that they are in the majority by any means. We also have many progressive, open minded people as well. I have a gay family member living in Madison and I've never heard of her having any big issues. She's certainly welcome in my home anytime.

[Alt Dach]

Out side of Madison and parts of MKE it sure is-actually reactionary should replace conservative in general useage.

[mrkool]

Originally Posted by DAP443

My sister's gay best friend just came back from Wisconsin, after visiting his mom. When he called her, he was so angry, words cannot describe. He just generalized the state as "rude, obnoxious, and downright judgmental". Is it true for every city in Wisconsin? I have never been there myself.

How would people have known he was gay unless he was flaunting it in some way?
My guess is that he was doing or saying *something* to cause all that rudeness and obnoxiousness. If it was that bad, it didn't happen for nothing.
If he doesn't visit again, that would probably be OK with most of us.

[Megan1967]

Yes, outside of Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin is pretty conservative. That said, most people will be civil, even to someone who is really flaming. My guess is he ran into a couple of jerks and then his expectations were set, and not unreasonably so.

I have to wonder, also however, if he is from here originally (being that he was visiting his mom), if he didn't have bad experiences growing up and then couldn't help but see slights and rudeness where it may not have actually existed. I have to admit to seeing the worst in the community I grew up in because I had a particularly brutal childhood. Just a series of unfortunate events, including having my breast grabbed by a football quarter back in middle school. I ran from the room crying and of course he got in trouble. It took years before the heckling stopped for the most part and even then one guy wouldn't let it go. The comments were quite crude and cruel. I don't want to hold a grude against the whole city, but I kind of do.

[EnjoyEP]

The notion that one person felt "people" in a state of 5-million+ were "rude, obnoxious, and downright judgmental", that that somehow plays into a state being "conservative" (whether politically, socially, or other) is frankly silly.

[karfar]

Originally Posted by mrkool

How would people have known he was gay unless he was flaunting it in some way?
My guess is that he was doing or saying *something* to cause all that rudeness and obnoxiousness. If it was that bad, it didn't happen for nothing.
If he doesn't visit again, that would probably be OK with most of us.

Right, because just being gay doesn't cause hateful remarks & actions by others Nice assumptions.

[kg1701d]

Not just Wisconsin are conservative but in my experience, people outside of urban centers tend to be THAT conservative... it goes way passed Wisconsin and the Midwest. And saying or doing something that can be construde as stereotypically gay is NOT reason to be rude and obnoxious. You'll find that kind of unacceptable intolerance any where and for many different reasons, not only being gay and not only in Wisconsin.

[yo vanilla]

This is actually pretty insulting. A gay person should know better than anyone else that you can't judge an entire group (or state in this case) by the actions of just a few people.

[David Hammond]

Originally Posted by DAP443

My sister's gay best friend just came back from Wisconsin, after visiting his mom. When he called her, he was so angry, words cannot describe. He just generalized the state as "rude, obnoxious, and downright judgmental". Is it true for every city in Wisconsin? I have never been there myself.

"rude, obnoxious, and downright judgmental"

Tell your sister's gay best friend that "it takes one to know one".

Your sister's gay best friend sounds like an ass. He's phobic and probably isn't even aware that he could do such a thing.

Let me guess, he doesn't like Christians either.


I was just up at Elkhart Lake recently and saw a bunch of ExxposeExxon bumper stickers, so it's not that conservative. People in WI elected Feingold, what does that tell your sister's gay friend also? They guy needs to look in the mirror and face his bigotry.