Read the room and make your own decision about how much you want to reveal.

I'm in the US in a moderate locale (there are a good portion of both conservative and liberal people around here). It's a little hard for me to "read the room" 'cause I've been burying my head in the sand regarding a lot of current politics and events. I was hoping someone could advise. I'm glad if it doesn't seem quite as restrictive as China at least.

"reading the room" as you describe makes sense as a good general approach though, when I'm not among people I'm close with.

I also feel like I'm hiding something from people sometimes. If I know they want to avoid contact with people if they have certain viewpoints, for example. I guess I can just try to avoid them out of respect without disclosing if I think that's safer.

Thanks for the reply.