Creating an inclusive culture; Create belonging by building relationships inside your community.

In my neighborhoods and surrounding communities, I’m seeing more Pride LGBTQ events and activities each year for those who finally get to “be themselves” publicly in a world that’s more socially acceptable to be different. But that is still a slow-moving train.

Unfortunately, the world is slow to accept people who are “different,” whatever that means to each person. I grew up in a small town in a rural area in the North East of the US and was sheltered as a child. Acceptance didn’t come easily to me. I was the “weird” kid that no one picked for dodgeball or to hang out with after school, which meant I spent a lot of time alone and watching TV. My generation was called “latchkey” kids because we didn’t have parents in the home; they were at work most of the time.

My family is very religious, and while I honor their beliefs, they are not mine. I’ve had to navigate the feeling of lack of belonging most of my life because life didn’t get any easier after school with constant job losses and economic challenges that left me on my own to figure out that I don’t need to try to “fit it” and it’s more about finding myself.

Not everyone knows who they are, and some of us are still trying to figure that out; I know I am. There are a lot of…