Working from home today, so I stopped by the nail salon to fix a broken nail. Didn't need a full manicure, but I had them polish my nails and did a polish change on my toes while I was there. I was not dressed. Shorts and T-shirt, flip flops, ball cap, orangish-red nails, carrying a purse. I do this in drab quite a bit, so this is old territory for me. I went over to Tuesday Morning (small retail store) and as I'm walking to the door there's an older man (with a cane) and his wife going in just ahead of me. He stood there looking at me coming toward the door. I couldn't tell if he was waiting to hold the door for me or if he was just staring. As I got closer I could see that he just had anger written all over his face. As I approached the door he turned away and let the door close.
When I went in he was standing there looking back at me, teeth clinched, with a look of hatred and like he was trying to think of something to say. I smiled and said "Hello" and went past him without incident. As I was going through the store I could overhear him talking to his wife. Couldn't hear every word, but I got the jest. I particularly overheard "queers" and "married".
They turned onto the same aisle as me, and although the conversation stopped, the glares continued. I'm no activist and I'm non-confrontational to a fault. I wasn't afraid of him, but I was scared of the situation I was in. I was also getting angry, which is a rarity for me. So I said, "Could I ask you why you seem so angry at me?" He looked like he was going to explode. He just looked at my nails, meaning he made a point of looking in a way that I'd know what he was looking at, and said, "I ain't talkin' to you." His wife is shushing him. His face was so red and his fists were clenched. This is an OLD man, mind you.
At this point I'm shaking. Still shaking, actually. I left and had no further encounter with him.
I've been crossdressing publicly for over 40 years. From something minimal like today to full on fem and everything in between. In all that time I've only encountered anger and hatred twice that I recall, and it wasn't to this level. This one shook me up a little. I've never felt so hated. And it was over nail polish and a purse!!! I just can't wrap my head around that! I don't understand how that can possibly set someone off like this. It seems so completely benign to me. It's nothing.
It's not going to stop me. That level of hatred, based on my own experience, is extremely rare. It did shake me up, though. I could feel the hate! Over NOTHING!
I think all the press lately is causing a backlash. Gay marriage, Caitlyn, all the various things in the news... I hope the backlash is limited to angry old men. I guess they see that they're losing. They think we're all going to hell.