I have lived in several different states in my life, especially after I had come out as transgender and started living as a woman full time. I have not had as much trouble going about my life as I do in West Virginia. When I lived in Chattanooga, TN I would walk down the side walk in dresses and high heels and no body would stare. Sure they would look and would even smile, not that "I'm uncomfortable" smile, but like the kind of smile any woman would get that shows their beauty. When I do that here I get people trying to break their necks while driving just to stare at the "Tranny Freak". I have been verbally assaulted and even almost physically assaulted.
People have told me it is because I live in a "red" state but Tennessee is a "red" state and I had never had trouble there like I do here. It is because people in this state are just bigots. They are bigoted against anything that the do not consider "normal". I have been fighting with depression for all my life and being in this state with these people has not helped at all. When I was a teenager I would cut on myself and even had multiple suicide attempts, as an adult living where I do, I have to fight those feelings everyday and it is an uphill battle. I just don't understand why people can not leave others alone. How I live my life is nobody else's business but mine and those few that I keep close to me.