@riley Several times pre-election we went to a local brewery that literally has signs on every table being like all are welcome here with examples and several times we’ve had to move seats to avoid confrontations with MAGA people who would go off on “communist” Kamala and how they need to fight back with violence.

But this is different. The hatred is palpable. You can feel the glee. The desire to cause fear. The phrase that best sums it up to me is this post election gem: “Your body, my choice. Forever.”

And now there are a lot more red zones. The blue zones are far between. Large swathes of my home state, “blue” California, are solid red zones. Trump flags are literally everywhere. There are no “safe” spaces.

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I haven’t posted much about this election. Call it being numb. Call it survival mode. Call it not wanting an additional target on my back. Call it acquiescence.

I’ve felt unwelcome and somewhat unsafe in red spaces since 2016.

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