Geeks are one of the most open, welcoming and diverse people you will ever find. “What?” You ask. “How can that be? They’re so focused on their interests and seem to want to keep people out.” Wow, you really don’t know many geeks, do you? Here’s why I think we are the epitome of diversity. 

A large percentage of geeks (and especially those over 30 who remember what it was like when being a geek wasn’t mainstream) grew up as outcasts. We weren’t into sports or partying or having loads of friends to gossip with (ok, maybe some were, but that’s a rarity). A lot of us are natural introverts. We were picked on for being quiet, having our noses in books, sitting on the sidelines, hermitting ourselves away in labs.

We saw others like us, others who didn’t get invited to parties (we didn’t want to go anyway), others who enjoyed spending hours in the library and we gravitated to each other. We discovered common interests and fandoms and started having our own kinds of fun trading comics, playing RPGs, creating fanfiction (before we even knew what that was), going to the hole in the wall conventions together.

But being a geek has never been about just finding others who like the same things – it’s about welcoming everyone who feels they have no other place to share their obsessions. But it’s also about welcoming those who don’t feel comfortable being themselves around the “Norms”. We’re insulted if someone calls us normal, so we’re always happy to share the table with all the other outcasts, be it fellow geeks and nerds, those with physical challenges, anyone in the LGBTQ spectrum – people who don’t feel like they fit anywhere always have a home with geeks.

So that’s what it is. That’s why geeks are diversity – we welcome everyone. And yes, we’ll even let the Norms share in our fun, as long as they’re not dicks to anyone. Because, as often as geeks are stereotypically portrayed as weak, attack one of our own and we’ll come at you in ways you will never forget.