When I worked in plastics recycling, I developed relationships with several independent truckers willing to do runs without going through brokers.

(Margins in plastic recycling are so volatile that sometimes transportation costs can make all the difference. A hefty broker’s fee can mean the difference between profit and loss when petroleum prices are low.)

For the most part, the truckers I met were indeed pretty conservative. I can see how you'd have to be very stealthy in that world to be safe or accepted!

I did meet one extraordinary trucker once. The first time she walked in to my (very obviously gay) logistics manager's office, I happened to be there talking to him about something else, and we both gave her "the nod" to acknowledge a fellow traveler.

It's not often you see a woman, even an evidently very butch lesbian like her, in the trucking business.

We made an effort to keep doing business with her, but it took several months before we realized she wasn't a lesbian. She's a straight trans woman who likes to present as very masculine.

And she was a little nervous when she told us, two obviously gay men who tried to make it even more obvious to let her know she was in a safe space.

I think that just goes to show that acceptance is not to be taken for granted. She clearly knew that!