Does Appreciating Diversity Require Compromising Values?

Talk long enough about "appreciating diversity," and the question of accepting ideas we find morally wrong almost always comes up. For instance, how is a person who "appreciates diversity" to react when confronted with an issue like homosexuality, if they believe that homosexuality is corrupt? From my experience, it is questions like this that are one of the biggest obstacles to getting support for diversity projects. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Since this is an opinion piece, though, I will say that I don't believe valuing the differences between you and I means that I have to close my mind to my own moral values.

Valuing our differences, for me, means that the things that separate us are just as important and just as worthy as those that bring us together.

From my perspective, "human diversity" is simply the differences among us. Imagine, if you will, that you are a cake with many layers, each layer representing your life: gender, family status, marital status, race/ethnicity, language, income, education, physical appearance, physical ability, mental aptitude, emotional traits, hobbies, employment, religion (or lack thereof), political affiliation, and so on. None of us, not even family members, are going to have identical slices. Consider, too, that the layers may vary in size, demonstrating that some of our traits are "bigger" than others, that they impact our lives more than other traits. You'll find, more often than not, that our differences far outweigh our similarities to others around us.

As Americans in the 20th century (no slight intended for those of you reading in other lands), most of us would say that racial and ethnic differences are easily appreciated - many of us find accents intriguing, for instance, and most people are becoming educated enough to accept that our racial differences give us unique and interesting perspectives on life. The American definition of family is constantly broadening: the nuclear family (mom, dad, 2.5 kids and a dog) is long gone. Most of us can live with that. Income, sure, there will always be the "haves and have-nots" - although some of us are pretty quick to judge that the "have-nots" don't deserve more, and that the "haves" haven't earned it. And while more and more Americans are returning to church, we tend not to get too caught up in religious differences. This is not meant to imply we do not discriminate freely here about some topics: sexual preference and body size are two issues that leap to my mind, and I will address them in future editorials.

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