Hi there, fellow HEXians!

There's been a lot of talk in the news, both Muggle and magical, about something called DEI. No, DEI does not stand for Department of Ethereal Investigations or the Dangerous Earwig Infestation, but for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Today, I'd like to discuss what DEI is and is not and how understanding its importance can help you become a better ally for everyone.

First off, let's break apart the terms. Diversity, in terms of people and communities, means having a range of people who come from different groups together in the same place, like a school or the workplace. People from different social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, people of different gender identities, sexual orientations, and economic levels - a bit of everyone from everywhere, as my father used to say. Diversity is important because it provides different perspectives in life as well as ensuring that everyone's needs and concerns are heard and addressed. For example, if everyone in my house is tall, and we only build the house in proportions for tall people, our house wouldn't be comfortable or welcoming to anyone shorter than us, and we would not understand what the problem would be. If every manager at a business is white, there is no representation of anyone of a different race at a managerial level, and those managers might not have the best interests of any non-white person in mind because they don't have the perspective or lived experience of non-white people. If everyone only spoke to or worked with people like themselves, the world would be a dark, deeply divided place, and we would never understand why some systems unfairly favor some groups over others.

This leads us to equity. Note that we say equity, not equality, in this context, as there is a distinct difference. Equality means that everyone has an equal chance or opportunity, which sounds like it would be the right thing, right? Well, not so fast! If there's an apple tree in the yard, and you and I both need a ladder to get to the apples, it would be equal for us to get ladders of the same height. However, if you are five feet tall and I'm seven feet tall, you may still have issues reaching the same apples I could reach. Equity would be recognizing that difference and providing each of us a ladder tall enough that we BOTH can reach the same apples. If that means that your ladder is two feet taller, that's equitable, as you'd need the extra height and I would not. Everyone having access to a bathroom stall is equal, but having a stall where it's easier for someone with a mobility device to access it is more equitable. This is where a lot of people get hung up, particularly in economics, as they think everyone having an equal chance is the same thing as having equity. Understanding the difference is key to working toward everyone having the opportunity and ability to achieve the same things.

Finally, inclusion. This is the easiest-sounding but sometimes the hardest concept to achieve. It seems like it would be easy to include everyone, but just who is included under "everyone"? You can't reasonably have everyone be part of every group or committee, as that would be unworkable and chaotic, particularly in smaller meeting spaces. You can include members of different communities as representatives so that the concerns and general opinions of those groups are heard and understood. You can also proactively think of things that might be sticking points for other people. For example, while having a party at a location might sound awesome, you should plan inclusively: What is the access like for folks who may be in wheelchairs or on crutches? Is this in the middle of a super-conservative area or a super-liberal area, and how might that make guests feel? Is the location somewhere that might have historical significance or concern for different guests, like a plantation or former sanitarium? Are there people you may be overlooking? Ask other people for advice, opinions, and input!

I hope this quick breakdown helps you better understand the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and helps make you a better ally to not just your community but the larger communities of the world.

Author's Note: Hir & ze are pronouns used by Leslie Feinberg and aren't a misspelling.

Welcome, lovely Prism readers, to another edition of This Day in History! We'll be trying to cover some history from the several months that have passed by since the last edition, so we might skip around the place a bit. We're covering some different writers and writings found within LGBTQ+ history.

This means we're starting off with August, and I'm taking you back to the year 1939 when the first autobiography was published in which two women are happy together. This was the first explicitly lesbian autobiography where this happened, and a note had to be included to state it's a true story and a first of its kind. Diana: A Strange Autobiography was written by Frances V. Rummel, published under the pseudonym of Diana Fredericks. The first reveal of who Diana Fredericks was happened on the show History Detectives, whose host found the niece of the author - Jo Markwyn. While she was aware of the writer's sexual orientation, nothing was ever said of it. Jo has stated that the book can't fully be viewed as an autobiography since some details were changed within the story.

Next, we'll move on to September. September 1949 was when Leslie Feinberg was born. Hir writings were very important for awareness around gender studies, the terminology used within them, and bringing transgender issues to a wider audience.

Hir first novel, which came out in 1993, was called Stone Butch Blues. Described as an autobiographical novel, this book covers the life of Jess Goldberg in the 1940s. A year after its release, it received a shared winner's prize of Small Press in the Lambda Literary Awards, in which it had also received a nomination for Lesbian Fiction. It also won the American Library Association Gay & Lesbian Book Award in 1994, which has now become known as the Stonewall Book Award. Hir second novel came out in 2006 and is called Drag King Dreams. This book focuses on Max Rabinowitz, a veteran of the women's and gay movement from East Village.

Leslie Feinberg has also written several non-fiction works, most notably Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman, which came out in 1996. This work falls within the genre of popular history. The research for this book was first featured on a pamphlet published by the Workers World Party in 1992 called Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come. It's separated into five sections:

1. How Leslie's interest in transgender history came about.
2. Discussions about the broader historical narratives of transgender people.
3. European transgender history.
4. Contemporary transgender issues.
5. Photo gallery of transgender people talking about their lives.

After Leslie's move to New York City, ze partook in demonstrations against war and racism, and for labor. This was partially on behalf of the Workers World Party, which Leslie was a part of.

Lastly, for October, we're discussing Orlando: A Biography, written by Virginia Woolf. This book was initially published on the 11th of October in 1928. Woolf has stated that this book was inspired by one of her female lovers, Vita Sackville-West, who also happened to be one of her close friends. This book explores the story of Orlando, a poet who gets to meet several prominent figures from English literary history, changing sex at the age of 30 and continuing to live an extremely long life without ageing. Several modern works have taken inspiration from Woolf's novel. In 2019, this book appeared on the 100 most influential novels list from BBC News.

Virginia Woolf herself was part of the Bloomsbury group, which is also where she met Vita Sackville-West. This group was very known for progressive views regarding sexuality and included many homosexual and bisexual members. In one of Virginia's letters to her husband, she stated there was no sexual attraction to him, and this was one of the reasons she long-denied his marriage requests. Throughout her marriages, she did continue to have affairs with women, who she's stated "stimulate her imagination, by their grace and their art of life" according to Vita.

That's it for this month's This Day in History! Make sure to come back to a later Prism edition to find out more historic moments for the LGBTQ+ community.