How not to feel unsafe in my neighborhood

Hi everyone. I am a 25 year old gay man living in a college town in the midwest. This evening, I was walking back home to my apartment after school. I was on the phone with my dad, complaining about something from earlier in the day. Maybe I was talking too loudly or obnoxiously, and I definitely know I have a "gay" voice, or maybe it was how I was dressed, but for some reason a man muttered "faggot" under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear. He then proceeded to follow me for a couple of blocks. I am definitely more on the femme side, and this man was much bigger than me, and this made me feel unsafe and intimidated. I even took a circuitous route to make sure this man couldn't figure out where I lived. I've never really dealt with something like this before, and I don't know what to make of it and how to overcome it. Suffice it to say I am a bit rattled, and now I don't feel incredibly safe in my own neighborhood. I know that others of the LGBTQ community have faced (even worse) kinds of harassment and intimidation. How did you overcome/deal these sorts of situations?