Do I count the queer organizers and nonprofit board members that I've done a little dance in front of trying to convince them that I'm worth protecting only to be pushed aside ?
Do I count you all on here ? I want to hope for the best but I've seen over and over again how trans women at the follower count I have are treated. I do wonder how many of you, mutuals or not, will one day say "yeah I always got bad vibes from her" the next time I'm accused of being some variety of sexual deviant. I know the answer is more than 0, the only questions is how high that number gets.
Do I count the friend groups I've partied with wondering if my life is in danger, if they would protect me like they would a tme person ? Or the friends of friends or friends of partners who I was told started saying I was really loud or male-socialized as soon as I left the room ? Do I count the ones I never got confirmation said anything like that but who I have little doubts did ?
Even if I just count the close friends, the people I've loved most in my life who I've had slow, painful, unsatisfying conversations with explaining how I've been hurt and how they can or have hurt me the answer is still more than I could count on one hand. And even for them, as with everyone else, I can never be fully certain that what I fear won't happen anyway. I've let my guard down before and had it blow up in my face. I don't know how many more of those I could survive.