Excellence analysis, thanks! It probably is worth noting that Evangelical Christianity, the religion driving so much of this anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the South, teaches the sovereignty of men explicitly ... as religious doctrine.

People learn in church from the time they're small children that men are to be the heads of families and responsible for all major decisions. God wants it that way. He wants men in charge, and never women in charge.

As to the Catholic Church, the Evangelicals' partner in anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ laws, I think everybody knows that it's the most sexist organization on the planet. The church reserves all real power for man, and excludes women from any power in the organization. Obedience to hierarchy is actually an important part of their teachings. "Obey the bishop," who is always a man, and never ever a woman. I was just reading a speech by Pope Francis yesterday, about how part of the problem in the Catholic Church today is that people are not obeying their bishops. Gob smacking. They don't even pretend that they're not about sovereignty and hierarchical dominance.

So, in many ways, this fight really boils down to a struggle between those who cherish individual liberty and those who'd rather benefit from hierarchical sovereignty, often urged by organized religion ... plus those who worship the evil of the Confederacy as nostalgic "Southern culture."