I was punched in the face today in broad daylight for being trans - please remember to be safe!

I'm fine...that's what's important. But yeah, I was walking in broad daylight in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn in New York City from the subway to my home. I've always felt pretty safe in this neighborhood, even at earlier points in my transition process when I as clearly trans/transitioning to anyone. But yeah, some dude came up to me and started yelling shit, I said, "What, do you have a problem with me?" and he punched me right in the face.

I'd usually ignore an idiot commentator but idk, I was an idiot today. Frankly, I think I "outed" myself to him when I yelled and he panicked when he heard my yelling voice.

Idk, I'm fine overall. Two NYPD cops came over to my home and were totally cool even when I gave them my (still male) ID and they were like, "oh, uhhhh, so, uhhhh, yeah, uhhh, is your preferred name on here [the ID]?" That was one good aspect; I can see the city has given them some formal training or something on how to approach trans people and they were 100% professional and totally nice with me once they realized what was going on. It was pretty reassuring in a way, tbh. We cracked lots of jokes and talked about Joe Rogan too. And when I called 911 I heard my voice echo a lot and wow, that was the first time I've heard my speaking voice in forever. I sound like a girl now! I haven't heard my voice since like November.

It's a whole stew of emotions I'm going through. I've got some wine in me and the gf here so it's fine. I'm just shaken because I realize that yeah, I'm female and at this point a fairly ostensibly transgender female in situations like this. I need to learn how to react to things properly.

Anyway, I'm getting mace tomorrow. I've gotta figure out how to react to this shit now because I don't have the muscle mass to punch some punk back. I'm just like yeah, I need to figure out how to deescalate or respond appropriately to situations in certain ways now and yeah, wow man, shit's kinda different now.

One Jamaican guy on a bike riding by got a license plate and went out of his way to make sure I was okay and a Jamaican lady comforted me, which I really appreciated. I'm always hard on myself and expect strangers to judge or react negatively to me and that was not the case in this scenario at all (except for the asshole who punched me, of course).

Anyway, please stay safe out there! I gotta readdress a lot of shit and yeah, please don't be as dumb as I was.

Peace and estrogen,

Lauren

http://imgur.com/LN25SnR - face punch :/ It's gonna be purple tomorrow.