By Dr. Kirk Adams
Executive Director, The Institute for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion
https://i4sdi.org
Standing Together!
Let’s go!
The countdown is on.
On August 3, we will officially launch the Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion, and I could not be more excited about what we are building together.
Before then, on June 23, we launched a GoFundMe campaign that will give social justice, human rights, accessibility, belonging, and inclusion champions an opportunity to help fund the Circle platform on which this Community Coalition will be built.
The vision is becoming real.
Over the past several weeks, we have been defining the initial spaces that will be available to founding members when the coalition launches. We will spend the coming weeks building out both the website and the mobile app, creating a digital home where people committed to justice can connect, learn, strategize, and act together.
Our initial coalition spaces will include:
- A robust resource library
- A searchable membership directory
- A Rapid Response Hub
- A Next Generation Inclusion Leaders community
- A Futurists Forum where members can explore proactive strategies to get ahead of the escalating attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, belonging, and human dignity
Most importantly, members will help shape what comes next.
Because this coalition is not something we are building for people.
It is something we are building with people.
As we often say:
The Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion will help members move from reactive, isolated survival mode to strategic, sustainable, collective power.
That collective power becomes especially important when we examine one of the most common challenges facing inclusion advocates today.
Problem: Fear of Backlash or Retaliation
Across virtually every sector, we hear the same concern.
People care deeply about fairness, accessibility, inclusion, belonging, and human dignity.
Yet many are afraid to speak up.
They worry about professional consequences.
They worry about social consequences.
They worry about becoming targets.
Speaking up feels risky.
And in today’s environment, those concerns are not imaginary.
But perhaps there is another way.
A Possible Solution: Narrative Framing That Reduces Personal Exposure
One of the functions of the Coalition will be helping members develop effective narrative framing tools.
Rather than positioning issues as political battles, members can learn to frame them around shared values:
- Opportunity
- Community
- Human potential
- Innovation
- Economic participation
- Customer service
- Organizational excellence
- Human dignity
The Coalition can help members discover language, stories, data, and messaging approaches that advance inclusion while reducing unnecessary personal risk.
No one should have to stand alone.
And when many voices are telling the same story, the spotlight becomes less concentrated on any one individual.
Collective action creates collective protection.
Pride Month and the Arc of Progress
June is Pride Month.
July is Disability Pride Month.
The connection between these observances is deeper than many people realize.
I was born and raised in small rural communities in the Pacific Northwest.
The environment I grew up in was not typically violent or openly hostile toward LGBTQ+ people. Yet homophobia was undeniably present in the culture around me.
As a child and teenager, I do not recall knowingly meeting an openly gay, transgender, or queer person.
Of course, we know now that they were there.
They were living.
Working.
Dreaming.
Trying to be themselves.
Often without safety, visibility, or support.
I did not learn about the Stonewall uprising until much later in life as I sought to better understand the civil rights movements that ultimately paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act, the landmark civil rights legislation that transformed opportunities for people like me.
I did not learn about Marsha P. Johnson and other queer advocates until adulthood.
Like so many others, I have spent much of my life learning the histories that were never fully taught.
And what those histories reveal is remarkably consistent.
Progress happens because ordinary people find extraordinary courage.
People decide that dignity matters.
People decide that exclusion is unacceptable.
People decide that future generations deserve better.
Whether we are talking about disability rights, LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, gender equity, religious freedom, or any other human rights movement, we are standing on the shoulders of brave people who chose to speak when silence would have been safer.
The Language of Respect Continues to Evolve
Recently I encountered a term that was new to me: affectional orientation.
Many people continue to use the term sexual orientation, and that remains widely accepted. Yet affectional orientation struck me as an interesting reminder that language evolves.
As our understanding grows, so does our vocabulary.
The goal is not perfection.
The goal is respect.
The goal is dignity.
The goal is seeing people as they wish to be seen.
Every generation contributes to that evolution.
And that is a beautiful thing.
Come Build With Us
The Community Coalition for Sustainable Diversity and Inclusion is for everyone who believes that human dignity matters.
It is for people who are tired of feeling isolated.
It is for people who want practical solutions.
It is for people who want community.
It is for people who want hope.
It is for people who understand that sustainable change happens when we work together.
On June 23, we invited you to help build the foundation through our GoFundMe campaign.
On August 3, we will open the doors.
And then the real work and the real magic begins.
To our LGBTQ+, queer, transgender, nonbinary, disability, racial justice, faith-based, immigrant, labor, and human rights neighbors:
We see you.
We honor those who came before you.
We celebrate the courage you bring to this moment.
And we invite you to help create what comes next.
The Coalition is for everybody.
Everybody!
Come on in.
We can’t wait to see you at the next workshop.
Until then, please share this post with anyone you think would be interested.
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