Actually, even California passed one of those damn anti-gay marriage ammendments not long ago. I find it extremely disappointing how far we still have to go on that front, we can't blame that on the south, although I still believe there's very little argument against allowing gay marriage that's not religiously based.

But you're right, the south is really where it all starts. If they'd been allowed to secede, I wonder if they'd still be allowing slavery or if it would be like South Africa now. I doubt that on their own they'd have made many reforms.