Social circles that I strongly identify with:

• queer / gender variant
  They almost have a completely different language, which flows from different base axioms. It's difficult to communicate these ideas with outside groups without feeling like you're translating between two different languages, and there's a lot that's lost in translation.

  This IS the most important social circle for me. When shit goes down, we usually have each other's backs. There is so much estrangement from family and employers, that we HAVE to be each other's chosen family. (employment though, that's a harder problem)

• BDSM munches / Fetlife
  They're not as queer as gender-variant communities, but they ARE relatively open and accepting of ALL sorts of people.

  The BDSM community is larger than the queer community, so it's less incestual (you don't have to worry quite so much that the next person you're dating, just dated your most recent ex within the last few months) This is very important to me right now, because I'm becoming social for the first time in my life, and I'm making a LOT of mistakes. This lets me spread the mistakes around a little more, and it gives me more opportunity to figure out who I am and what I want.
  

• FreeGeek
  I'm part of the staff there. It's a low-stress place to improve work skills. Being volunteer-centric, nobody can ram things down anybody else's throat.

  It's also yet another group where we deal a lot wtih privilege/marginalization, outreach, consent, and what makes a "safe space". Much of our clientelle is low-income, and sometimes low-education, and it's a great place for me to try to deal with my huge mentalism problem.

• 12 step groups
  They also have their own lingo, customs, and traditions. They deal with being stigmatized (overeaters, alcoholics, sex addicts, etc) and marginalized. The partition from other social circles is intentional — you're not supposed to "out" other twelve-steppers when in mixed company. (they're welcome to out themselves — participating in recovery is arguably a good thing — however, it's seen as an issue of autonomy/consent, since some of their peers may not interpret it as a good thing, focusing on the disorder rather than the recovery)

  The anonymity fosters much more frank disclosures than would otherwise occur. The frankness encourages peers to support each other. And members end up being more supportive than blood family, even though they sometimes don't know each other's last names.

  One lesson I've learned at 12step groups is that self-honesty is SOOOO important. In 12step groups, it's usually focusing on being honest about how often you get high / act out, and especially about your underlying motivations for getting high / acting out. However, that strong focus on self-honesty has helped me be honest with myself about how queer I am, and has fostered self-acceptance in that area as well.

• chosen family
• privilege/marginalization
• radical acceptance/inclusion
• growth / rebirth