Write Away

Interesting post! Kind of late to replying because work has been busy, but yeah. I guess you and everyone else have said my opinions about "diversity". I think it's wonderful to represent people that aren't often represented, but the issues I see are:

1. Not having enough knowledge to be comfortable writing about a group one isn't a part of
2. There can be backlash, whether fair or not, if someone doesn't like your portrayal
3. Including "minorities" just for the sake of having diversity can seem not genuine and awkward (for example, having a story about five teenagers, one is black, one is Asian, one is in a wheelchair and one is gay... not an impossible premise but I'd need to see it developed or else it might come across as nothing more than tokenism). Shallow portrayals could also reduce the character's identity to the part of them that makes them a minority, which is unrealistic and potentially offensive.
4. There's nothing wrong with writing characters/groups/stories that you're comfortable with and interested in writing

But all of these can really trace back to one core issue: we're comfortable with what we view as "typical" and we're often afraid to branch out. As you said, though, it's awesome if you can represent more groups in your characters, especially groups that are often ignored.

I think it's interesting to offer ourselves as references. I'm kind of reminded of an LJ group called "Little Details", which is dedicated to people posting and asking questions that come up in their writing (anything from fact-checking to asking for help with realistic portrayals). I don't see why that kind of thing wouldn't be appropriate here - as long as it relates to writing, I think it's great if people ask questions (like, I don't know, "I'm writing about a character with autism, does (x) come across realistic, or too negative and stereotypical?").