We Celebrated Our Anniversary in a Safe Place for LGBTQ+ People

Disney World felt safe, anyway. And that was nice.

I am a cis-het male. Neither I nor my wife have ever been hassled by homophobes or transphobes. So we should only be able to relate to a safe place for LGBTQ+ folx in the abstract, right?

And yet…

Deb and I went to Florida at the end of January 2025 to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary (link below). We stayed with my ex-wife Linda and her wife Carol in Jacksonville for a couple days to begin with. Linda and Carol took us around and showed us interesting sights — normal things when friends from out of town show up.

While we were walking around the beach area or downtown Jacksonville or through the Jacksonville zoo, I stayed aware of our surroundings. Not hyper aware, not “keep two exits in mind at all times,” just being mindful of strangers as we approached or they walked by us. Not… worried, mind you, just keeping in mind I was in a very red state and we were with our lesbian friends (who, being old school [as Linda would occasionally remind me] were as affectionate in public as two random women who knew each other at work). Deb and I, as usual, held hands and walked close as often as we could. Everything was fine, we saw interesting stuff.

Deb and I checked into Walt Disney World on Saturday. We went straight to our rooms (modern Disney convenience, our MagicBands and our phones allowed us to unlock our room on…