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[quote=Anonymous]Most of the people I socialize with are neurodivergent or close to someone who is, 
so we’re alike in that way. I’m a 45 year old white woman, UMC, married to a man, with 2 lgbt kids.

My three closest friends are an Asian woman who grew up in Africa, a hearing impaired midwestern nurse in her late 60s, and an Asian American closeted trans woman who is planning to transition socially soon. I have a lot of different friend groups. There’s a movie club (we don’t have time for a book club) that’s racially diverse but all UMC professional women. I have a handful of gay male friends who I like to see concerts and plays with, and occasionally sporting events. I have a group of women who I share a hobby with, and this group is about 1/2 white, 1/2 AAPI, aged 35-70, and very mixed income levels. I’m the only  non Hispanic woman at my job, and all the men are queer or Hispanic except 1 cis het white guy. I haven’t done a study but I bet over half our clients are LGBT. My kids went to a high school that was slightly more than 1/3 Hispanic, with the rest being a pretty even mix of black and white non Hispanic kids.

I think we surround ourselves with the people we want to be with. Most people want to feel comfortable and that means hanging out with people who look like them or have similar backgrounds (which usually means looks like them). My comfort zone is in the quirky and fun zone, so I seek out people who have similar interests rather than similar appearances. I have ADHD so I keep friends who are tolerant of my shortcomings, which usually means they aren’t neurotypical and can relate to my struggle with timing, organization, and anxiety. I have a lot of loved ones in the LGBT community, so my friends are all LGBT friendly. After typing all that I realized my friends are pretty much just like me: open minded, accepting, and fun to hang out with.

I grew up in a very homogeneous rural community full of white evangelicals. There were only 2 black kids in my elementary school, and Catholics were a religious minority who had to travel half an hour away to get to a town with a Catholic Church. DH and I wanted our kids to have more diversity in their lives. The best way (for us) to do that was to move to a diverse area and live a full life. It’s hard to avoid socializing with all kinds of people when you do that. [/quote]

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