Beyond LGBTQ, Finding Commonalities In Our Multiple Identities

Every one of us has multiple identities. Those multiple identities influence our thoughts, perceptions and behaviors every day in our lives at work, and in our communities.

Our multiple-identities are like panels that make us each separate but connected beautiful diversity quilts

The late Dr. Roosevelt Thomas stated Diversity is any collective mixture characterized by differences, similarities, and related tensions and complexities.

We each have our own collective mixture, and our beauty is in our complexities, in knowing who we are as people with our own multiple identities in relationship to others, and being curious and willing to know a whole person in all of his or her multiple identities.

When we accept all of who we are and our own beauty, we can see the beauty in others. If we define ourselves in terms of only one dimension of diversity, we define others in terms of only one dimension.  We limit our involvement with people who look different than us, and we limit our ability to create real inclusion where we work and live.

When we define our world and the people around us by what we read, what we hear, and what we’ve learned in the past, our interaction with them is based on a label and that’s how we treat them, whether they are a co-worker, a customer, or a member of our community.

Make a list of all of you identities, and then pick three people you know and list their multiple identities. Start becoming more conscious of the complexity and diversity of each one of us.

You’ll see more beauty in yourself and others, and find commonalities you didn’t know existed.