What is the trans gaze? It's relief and recognition between strangers on a train

Here is the thing about being seen by another trans woman on the New York City subway: It is nothing like being seen by anyone else, and both of us know it, and neither of us will say so, because we are New Yorkers and we have standards. What most of us will do, reliably, on Friday and Saturday nights when the train is running and the earrings are good and the week has been survived, is this: We will look at each other for exactly two seconds longer than strangers usually look at each other on the New York City subway, which is to say we will look at each other at all.