In this photo, I'm stepping onto the bus. I'm heading out to get groceries. I often take the 59 as I head to work(teaching) or venture out to explore. Being on the bus is a place I've faced a lot of harassment. I've had slurs thrown at me for my race or my gender, called "disgusting", told "I can't believe they allow this around children" while holding hands with a male friend. While every single time it stings a little, it's gotten to a point that I'm desensitized to it. I think it's laughable that they think of me like that. It's not just the bus though, being in public is always a risk of facing harassment. At work. At the grocery store. In a museum. In a public restroom. At school. People have their view clouded by transphobic rhetoric now prevalent all over the internet, propagated through education or politics or religion, and often seem to forget that I'm a person.