Take chances, and be prepared to get your heart broken. That's pretty much what being 19 is all about. It allows you to be a better partner when you do meet someone special
When dating, be safe. Seriously, let your friends know who you are seeing and where you are going. Demand he give you a picture ( funny how often this stops the arrangement of a date) and let your friends see it. Have someone call you during the date on your cell. Insist on meeting in public. If you feel anything at all is amiss - get out. Make sure you can get out of any room where you may be alone (don't let him be between you and the door for example) if you are alone.
You don't have to "give it up" on the first date, don't feel like you have to. Lots of times guys are looking for a one-off fantasy. If you don't give them their sex fantasy on the first date, they won't call you back (so you rule out lots of creeps that way). The guys who do call you back are more likely to enjoy your company and thus more likely to see you as more than an object of lust.
You can keep yourself physically safer. You can weed out some jerks. Ultimately, nothing will protect you 100% from getting emotionally hurt. It happens all the time to everyone. The hard part is to keep from expecting to be disappointed, to get so jaded you can't enjoy another's company. It's really hard that part.
I also find guys flirt with me who don't know I'm trans. Out of fear of violence, I pretend I am oblivious to it.
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