I have, as a transperson I experience it often.

The US bible belt is real, and so is the spite for anyone who "threatens" their norms or traditions.

Sit in a restaurant in rural SC for a day. You'll see just how casual the racism and bigotry is.

My guy, I got yelled at at a stop light for having a "pedophile flag" (a pride flag) on my car. Those people do actually exist.

I have seen people complain about trans people in a country where there are only 9 trans people

I've had some people in friend circles who'll start going off on weird anti trans tangents when they've been drinking a tad too much. They exist, I think most are just less vocal outside of the internet.

Years ago, my mother told me she wasn't opposed to gay people, she just didn't like "how they have to be so in your face about it." Wtf? Do gay men at the grocery store accost you and make you watch them make out?!

That's why I believe that trans people are being attacked in real life. Also, I know that what we see on the internet and television bleeds into real life.

My father tries to make jokes about trans people in public. I have brought over two trans friends who I felt like I couldn't have around because of my parents views. They wonder why I'm trying to move away from them.

Do you live in a cave?

Wow, lucky you.

While I won't argue that the media is causing a number of problems thinking it's a storm in a teacup is your privilege showing. Even though I live in one of the most trans accepting places on the planet I have had the unique experience of having to sneak past protesters who are trying to remove people like me from public life, using slurs over megaphones and openly marching hundreds strong in the streets... And again this is rated one of if not the most trans friendly place in the world. There is no safer place to go.

It's a lot harder to see it as a storm in a teacup when the world is dramatically becoming a smaller place for us personally because laws keep passing that people do not understand or do not care how they actually impact us. The media doesn't report a lot of us who are murdered even when it's a hate crime. This year in the US there was 41-ish such hate motivated crimes which is near double 2023's total... But we can't be sure of the actual number because a lot of the time the transness of the victim and the nature of the motive is obscured by the media reporting. Some of the media shenanigans only gets caught only by loved ones as media frequently uses vagueness and dead names that friends and community members don't recognize because that person hasn't gone by that name for decades.

Your opinion comes from the fact you don't personally have a horse in the race so whether you engage with it or not is a choice. The safe places are radically shrinking. The next government projected to win federally here is known to be openly hostile to trans people and I know that at least one of my friends will die directly as a result from them removing the supports currently in place. So enjoy the storm you aren't living friend but realize saying it doesn't exist is really crass to those who cannot find shelter.

Seriously? Where do you live? Do you even know any trans people?

Far from the most egregious example, but I was hanging out at a buddy's place one day, and given the parking situation, a couple of our cars were awkwardly parked on the side of the road. It wasn't much a problem for drivers, but we were both illegally parked according to the law, both taking up similar amounts of road space, with both cars being roughly the same size.

The only car that was ticketed was the car with the trans flag bumper sticker.

Cops are certainly bothered by their existence, at least here in the southeast.

Ask a trans person, they're going to have at least one story of somebody taking issue with them existing while trans. Usually multiple.

I'm not going to try to change your mind here. Changing someone's mind means taking care to massage their emotions, make them feel good about themselves and you, and get them to make the decisions on their own for their own reasons. It's a lot of work. I'm going to skip it.

Have you considered that you might be stupid? I'm not joking. Seriously. Because "I haven't personally seen it, so I don't think it's real" in this kind of context, maybe most contexts, is weapons grade stupid. What else don't you believe in? Bacteria? France? Submarines?

When you're done being mad about being insulted, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_transgender_people might be a good entry point.

Sample size of 1 is not indicative of anything.

I think it greatly depends on where you live.

Post your location and I'm sure people will be quick to point out how overtly racist your area is, which is probably why people are too afraid to speak out.