This week’s photographs were taken about 30 minutes and a few miles apart from each other.
They illustrate what I learned this week. It’s not “The LGBTQ community,” it’s “LGBTQ Communities”
The photograph above is of Q Street, the professional association of LGBT lobbyists and public policy advocates and those working for LGBT equality, at a reception at the Rayburn House Building, in downtown Washington, DC.
The photograph below was taken at Whitman Walker Health, just a few miles away, at the Capital Transpride (@DCTranspride) planning meeting, led by our Co-Chair, Bianca Rey (@BiancaRey) (and event sponsored at the platinum level by Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States – @KPMidAtlantic). Ruby Corado (@CasaRubyDC) happened to drop by, which made the meeting extra special.
Whitman Walker Health (@WhitmanWalker), our awesome host, by the way, is just off of Q Street (NW) itself, in Washington, DC.
The concept of communities plural came from from Catalina Velasquez (@ConsultCatalina) who is not pictured in the photographs below, but was in the room.
I’m almost embarrassed to realize that this concept didn’t resonate for me until Catalina explained it to our group. And then I developed the digital film my camera and realized I live this concept every day.
I am more comfortable in some LGBTQ communities over others, like most humans. If you assume that I’m more comfortable in the community in the first photo vs the community in the 2nd and 3rd photos, challenge your assumptions – it’s my 5th TransPride 🙂 .
Because biology is what it is, LGBTQ communities include every race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity in the human species. As a result a member of these communities is more likely than not to connect with more of humanity. That’s been my personal experience and it’s been an asset in every endeavor I’ve been a part of. I can’t think of a better gift to be have been given.
I’m not really embarrassed that I just figured this out, I’m celebrating that this life opportunity includes a mentor around every corner, who isn’t just like me.
To enjoy this gift in Washington, DC, the most protective of the diversity of these communities in the nation, is (cream cheese, no sugar) icing on the kale. Enjoy.