Sounds very much like where I live in rural Michigan. Cities like Detroit , Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids are fine, but get out into the countryside and people are much less tolerant.

A town not far from me defunded its public library when the library board and librarians refused to remove LGBTQ themed books from the stacks.

A town later was very straightforward about what was happening. "These are our values," he said, referring to rejecting LGBTQ people. He didn't say anything about traditional American values of liberty and pluralism.