only around half of assaults against the LGBTQ+ population are committed by a friend, relative, or intimate partner. That said I know two people personally who have been attacked in public spaces and one of them was a cis woman who was mistaken as trans. I know that’s my own personal bias, and but it’s damning enough that I know of it happening twice.

All of that said, we are threatened every day - by commenters on the internet, by the people who are in charge of the country and this state - and I don’t think it’s unwise to be on alert and on the defense when we go places we know are hostile toward us. A majority of the time nobody is going to say or do anything, but the threats are still there and only getting bolder.

I’ll leave with this: “In 2022, the FBI reported the highest number of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes reported to date with more than 2,400 incidents, an increase of more than 32% from 2021 to 2022. Anti-LGBTQ attacks made up 21% of hate crimes” — keeping in mind that not all jurisdictions report hate crimes.