ORBIT1 - I'm sorry that your area is so intolerent of recumbents. I am lucky to live in an area where there is a fair interest in recumbents. It's fun to see one zip by and try to identify it - EasyRacers, Lightnings, Penningers, Haluzak...you get the picture.
Both my husband and I have a bent. He rides his exclusively (Lightning P-38) while I switch back and forth between my bent (Lightning Phantom) and my road bike.
Only thing I can think of outside of moving outright is advocacy. My husband and I have gotten a number of folks at our LBS interested in his bent. We've encouraged them to take it out for a spin, talked and shown pictures, and now they're quite fascinated with bents. A good start.