Did you seriously just explain to someone who said they lived in Texas that the cities in Texas are progressive? ... I lived there, man. I even lived in those cities. I even said I recently escaped, not a quarter century ago.
I was 8 in the "late 90s" dude. How old do you think people on HN are?
Texas fucking sucks, even if you're in Austin, Houston or Dallas. Especially post-2020.
KOTH was 90+ miles from Houston apocryphally and a very liberal town even by today's standards. "Hank shows homophobic behaviors, but it doesn't seem out of malice." The malice is unfortunately why I think you're being downvoted. That's definitely increased in both Texas and Colorado.
> major metro areas like ATX, DFW, Houston, and SA have grown much more progressive in the last quarter century
While true, and while these places being by far the most population dense, they don't actually have any influence over the laws. Funny how that works. And those laws do matter.
Also, statistically speaking, you're less likely to be shot in a Texas LGBTQ-friendly venue than a Colorado LGBTQ-friendly venue.