Yep.

Interesting juxtaposition.

Thats...kinda sad really...
Sad that its needed for some

glad that bit by bit the world is better about it (just glacially paced)

Do not hope for that. That's not how it works.

Don't hope for the world to get better?
That seems a bit fatalistic, or we might just be miscommunicating here.

Not at all. Just realistic. Plus "better" it depends on perspective. My mum's friend is in a fight against "demonic gays" every day. Trying to sign petitions and stuff to ban and criminalise anything regarding LGBT. You see, for her, that's a "better world". So what it'll be if that is the main majority of politically active people in your country? They make world "better" but only from their perspective. And you know, once economical situation get's worse, and some big wars will start, everything will be blamed on minorities. Like, look how Rome at some point had no real opression for gays and trans. It was quite accepted. Then christianity happens, Islam, middle ages.

What I'm saying is that you gotta appreciate what you already have, because who knows if in next few decades we won't loop into some dark ages again. I know it kinda sounds like drivel. But it does make sense.

This is extremely close to my exact day to day operations.

Jesus fuck where do y'all live that needs that shit T_T
I am so sorry for anyone that goes through this. And I hope that if shit hits the fan, that you hit back so hard you kill a bastard.

Right now, I personally live in a very blue, very safe area. I have in the past lived in places where I had to go through less-safe spaces to get to/from work or school or whatever, but that doesn't change the effect it had on me. :F

Of course not. I always am aware because I live in Brazil. And in a huge metropolis at that. But that's because it's dangerous in general. I have never gone to a bash place. I also have a stupid survivla instinct that would make me fight and think "how can I murder" rather than "how can I get away" which I know is TERRIBLE and wrong but my instinct is just too strong. So I avoid danger as best as possible to not give myself the risk of that triggering, ever.

Eastern europe lol

I'm going to get crucified for saying this here but if you're this scared, carry a gun. I've never felt as uncomfortable as this is describing in my entire life, and I live in rural central Texas...

I'm actually gonna agree with you here, and I'm from California (Bay Area, which is VERY Blue). Although, for us here at least, carrying a gun is a bit harder to do, not to mention buying one.

For me, though, I carry a good ol' knife and took some self defense classes, just in case. Plus, learning to communicate, even with offenders, really helps. Although, I do wish I could carry my gun.

Check with your local sheriff's department. In Cali the sheriff helped me and my dad go through the CC permitting process. The office was very helpful.

You just have to be careful if you're of a certain skin colour. One skin tone you would be seen as defending yourself and get off scott free and another you'd be seen as the aggressor and thrown in prison for a decade or 2, even if the situation is the same.

Legal consequences are not something I care about if I'm defending my life. If someone is attacking me, priority one is making them stop, priority two is worrying about the consequences. That applies universally, regardless of skin color.

When I was living in California, it didn't matter if I was defending myself. It didn't matter if someone had broken into my home. If I shot someone there was a good chance I was going to prison. The sheriff's department, who helped me go through the application process for my CC permit, made it very clear to me what would probably happen if I ever had to use that weapon. I viewed it as worth the consequences. I guess that's a decision you have to make. If I felt like Reyn is describing in this post, constantly afraid for my life in every public setting, I'd already be in prison in my day to day life anyways.

Thankfully, my own living situation and environs are very safe nowadays, and generally speaking I've managed to avoid places that cause these kinds of feelings. It's more of a general introspection on what causes 'the gay stride' phenomenon than a personal cry for help, though I do appreciate everyone's concern. <3

Huh....interesting.

Thanks for reminding me about my daily life that I try not to think about.

Yeah, I figured it might do that in some cases. I am sorry, for the record - but I felt like it was something that needed to be said. For all the progress society's made in acceptance of LGBTQIA+ rights, there are still so many places out there that it's just not safe for us to even exist, and I feel like all too often that even those who call themselves 'allies' think we're in the clear when we're really not. In some places, maybe, but not anywhere close to it on a major scale.

Honestly, people keep thinking there's "progress" in regards to tolerating minorities. Societies keep going back and forth depedning on general socio-economical development. Better times - more tolerance, worse times - all blame on minorities. Europe goes every couple centuries between hating gays and jews, and giving them some space. It'll loop around eventually. Tolerance throughout europe been going down for past few decades. It's in a weird place, because there's sorto expected baseline for tolerating certain groups. So countries that been way below that line they get slightly better situation, meanwhile contires that had high tolerance - it goes down. Hard to predict future, but with war on horizon, and demand for strong church power and "strong goverment" hard to see anything good for LGBT in next 50 years. idk I see future as bleak. My view is to move to Iceland or something, far away from any big politics and any world events, and just lock up from meverybody.

Bloody hell. Where in the hell you gotta go about your business like this?

Nowadays, I don't get these thoughts - I live in a very safe area in a very safe state. But they've definitely crossed my mind in the past - even in places where I felt safe before, when I first started coming to terms with and accepting my sexuality. Popular media and the news made it clear that there were a lot of people out there who'd happily wish harm on me if they knew what I liked, and I know there are people out there still struggling with these same troubles.

not all of those are me...but yeah, I carry a knife around since moving down south for a good reason

Fuck dude.. and you can add "Confident steps actually carefully balanced due to martial arts training in case you need to dodge at any moment"
This is far too real.

Yeah. That.
I mean, even before I identified as Bi per se, I grew up as a skinny and slightly effeminate non-football player with female-coded hobbies in a part of the country where Smear the Queer was ab-so-effing-lutely a thing. That target-of-bullies walk speaks to my soul.