One might think that the South is the worst place to be openly gay, but Here Comes Honey Boo Boo's Uncle Poodle says "things are changing."

The guy knows from experience too. He's married to his partner and lives in Georgia where TLC's hit reality show is filmed.

The 29-year-old, whose real name is Lee Thompson, is opening up about his life after he read an article in The Washington Post called "Uncle Poodle Needs to Speak Up." Despite the criticism, he wasn't actually given a chance to "speak up" in the piece and responded by saying:

“Come on now. Who writes a story saying Uncle Poodle needs to speak up, and then doesn’t call Uncle Poodle to find out what he has to say?”

It turns out that Mr. Poodle has A LOT to say about the LGBT community in the South and it's all pretty positive. During an interview with The GA Voice, Alana Thompson's uncle dispelled the myth of homophobia running rampant in his hometown and explained:

“Things are changing. My husband and I live in Milledgeville because we want to be out in the country. I’m gay, but I’m as redneck as I can get, and we want to be somewhere we can fish and jump on a four-wheeler, go hog wallowing. There’s probably 40 or 50 of us — gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people — around here, they’re all open about it, everybody knows it."

Such good news!

Given the area's history, it's not hard to understand why the American public figures it's a bad idea to live in the South and be openly gay. Fortunately, Uncle Poodle assures us that he doesn't get harassed and continues:

“It’s not like there’s a gay bar here. We go to the same bars as everybody else, we’re all part of the same community… If there’s people who have a problem with it, they keep it to themselves, just like if I have a problem with them, I keep it to myself.”

One thing he doesn't keep to himself? Who he is!

The breakout reality star firmly believes people need to accept themselves before others do, so he gave this nugget of advice:

“If you want people to accept you, you have to show you don’t have a problem with yourself and just be up front about who you are. If you do, you earn people’s respect. If everybody would just go on and do that, ignorant people couldn’t cause so many problems. I know this is how I was born and I don’t need to explain it to anybody. I live my life for who I am.”

Right on! We couldn't be prouder of this guy for spreading such positive message. Hopefully the exposure he receives will help any southerner who has a problem with his lifestyle learn to accept it.

After all, a gay redneck is still a redneck and Uncle Poodle is damn proud to be one.

[Image via Facebook.]

Tags: acceptance, alana thompson, america, facebook, georgia, here comes honey boo boo, honey boo boo, lee thompson, reality show, the south, tlc, uncle poodle, washington post