My closest friend became friends with the man who assaulted me

Dear Delyara, I told my closest friend that a man in our social circle assaulted me after a party. She believed me, held me while I cried, and helped me find counselling. Six months later, she began inviting him to group events again because she said she did not want to “take sides forever.” She tells me in advance so I can choose not to attend. She calls this fair. I call it being removed from my own friendships so everyone else can remain comfortable. Last weekend was her birthday. He was there. I was not. Photographs show him standing beside the cake in the place where I would normally have stood. When I confronted her, she said he had always been kind to her and that people are complicated. I know people are complicated. What happened to me was not. I have lost one night to him, then my sense of safety, and now the people who decided inclusion mattered more for him than for me. My friend still says she loves me. I do not know what that word protects anymore.