[finnthehuman]

>I'd like the people I work with to feel safe talking about their family, their disabilities, their religion, their culture or subculture

Yes, you want to feel like the people around you feel safe to share it. Everyone with things that are uncomfortable to hear have learned that they're not. They know the polite fiction to talk around it and make you feel like they're open. They're not.

[ksenzee]

Of course people know how to hide things that aren't safe to tell everyone. I do, however, genuinely mean what I'm saying. I worked somewhere once where the nature of the work meant almost everyone was of a particular political persuasion. I was of the opposite political persuasion. I was also one of the most junior employees there. It was a good enough bunch of people that I felt safe mentioning it in passing one day, and it led to a really great conversation. I was not afraid of being fired for it, but more importantly, I was not afraid of being ostracized for it.

[finnthehuman]

Oh. I see the disconnect between us.

To me, either the culture bubble is extremely strong in your area, or being able to admit alignment with ideas shared by a major political party in an area where another party is more popular is an very low bar.

On the scale of topics that I conceal about myself, politics is as easy as talking about the weather.

[ksenzee]

This was Washington, D.C. during the Bush years. I could more easily have admitted to an ongoing affair or a cocaine habit.