I assure you that I know exactly what you your going through. I myself live in a very very rural town in southern Georgia. I don't mind if folks just don't know what I'm wearing or what I'm talking about. I've found that if you educate them for the most part they'll show a bit of respect. What galls me is being ignorant of a subject and making fun then not caring to learn about it. I find that abhorrent and all too often very prevalent nowadays. What I've done is since I don't have my kilt yet, I've been talking about it and spreading the word before hand, it helps that I've been wearing my Balmoral around as well. I've allready picked out the trouble makers and the ones who'll just give me a hard time in jest. Sadly there are a couple who are severly homophobic and have decided to not sit near me in classes because I wear a "Skirt"
I say folks who insist on ridicule and general nastyness are not worth my time and I just ignore them.