Are Asexual People Part of LGBT?

[Trusurvivor]

I was curious as to whether you thought that asexual people were part of LGBT. I don't, but maybe my opinion isn't in the majority. Just curious about how others feel about it. G'night.

[Peachyy]

I don't know, are they ؟

 

lol.

[secretagentpenguin]

If anyone is interested, I held an interview with a sexuality studies professor at my university when I wrote an article for our college newspaper about asexuality and what they said was that people who thought that you have to be strictly lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans in order to be part of LGBT is generally in the minority and that students general attitude towards asexuality when they first hear about it is, "Oh, I didn't know that was a thing. Now that I do, I think it's totally fine." A grand majority of the people who run our queer and allied student union at the university are actually ace, too. I've seen some people comment about how people who are asexual shouldn't be included in the LGBT community because the anagram was getting too long and they can't possibly include EVERY "special snowflake." When I asked the professor about that, they responded by saying that the best anagram to use is something like LGBT+ because with things like sexual and gender orientation there's always the potential for something new to come up so it's best to use LGBT+ so that we don't exclude anybody. Nobody has the right to keep an entire group of people from finding acceptance just because "the name is getting too long." And it is everyone's personal choice whether or not they choose to identify as part of the LGBT+ community. That is some of what I gained from writing this article and hope that it helps someone else on here ^.^

[borkfork]

MOGAI is slowly gaining traction. It's when I see something like LGBTQIA and A is ally... it just doesn't make sense. It's great people who aren't MOGAI are supportive, and things like marriage equality wouldn't have happened here in the States without allies, but that's a special inclusion if there ever was one. And seriously that's mostly semantics. The only thing I mentioned that even matters is marriage equality.

[Nebulous]

Whether my perception is correct or not, I've always seen the LGBT+ community as an umbrella community for anyone who doesn't fit the culturally-defined "standard" of gender and sexual orientation. It's also for anyone who experiences discrimination or averse judgement based on their gender and / or orientation. When it comes to asexuality, even if it isn't defined as a sexual orientation, and rather a lack thereof, asexuals still experience condescension, belittlement, and minimizing behaviours from other people, among other things. Is that not reason enough to be part of LGBT+?

[Guest]

I am

[Pi(e)]

I see the LGBT+ community as anyone who isn't straight (both heterosexual and heteroromantic) or cisgender.  By this asexuality fits.  I think it also makes sense, because as asexuals, we also have our our sexual orientation misunderstood or treated badly, not that who's discriminated against is a good way to determine if they can belong to a community.

While I feel that asexuals should be welcomed into the LGBT+ community, not all asexuals really feel they fit, and so while (I think) they should be welcome, each person individually has the choice whether they feel like they belong.

 

Those are my thoughts, sorry if they were ramble-y or didn't make sense... 

[girltwink666]

oh boy i know better than to start this one up again

[AVEN #1 fan]

It's the LGBTQIAPD2S  (Lesbians, Gays, Bi-sex/ro, Transgenders/Transsexuals/Tranvestites, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, A-sex/ro, Pan-sex/ro / Poly-sex/ro, Demi-sex/ro, 2-Spirits)

 

The A clearly stands for ace and aro individuals.

[Joe the Stoic]

Nope.

[Frigid Pink]

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual are all sexual orientation labels in which people experience a desire for sex with others, however, an asexual person could also identify as "trans," so, I don't know. I guess if the asexual person is also trans, then, yes, they're technically part of the LGBT community. I much prefer GSRM (gender sexual and romantic minorities), personally, and I know that asexual people are definitely a part of that.

[girltwink666]

3 hours ago, AVEN #1 fan said:

Transgenders/Transsexuals/Tranvestites

fyi transsexual is kind of an outdated and offensive term not rly used anymore. also transvestite is too. because it refers to someone who dresses up as a different gender. so transvestites (or crossdressers) can actually be any gender identity but they arent inherently transgender. its like, if you have gender presentation and gender identity on a venn diagram they would be independent events but not mutually exclusive events (omg sorry that i always use set theory to describe things  

 

14 minutes ago, Frigid Pink said:

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual are all sexual orientation labels in which people experience a desire for sex with others, however, an asexual person could also identify as "trans," so, I don't know. I guess if the asexual person is also trans, then, yes, they're technically part of the LGBT community. I much prefer GSRM (gender sexual and romantic minorities), personally, and I know that asexual people are definitely a part of that.

i just wanted to point out that there can be people who identify as both lesbian, gay, bi, etc. as well as ace or aro. (e.g. biromantic asexual or bisexual aromantic) so what you say isn't necessarily true. also GSRM is a sketchy term because apparently it was coined by a pedophile so he would have them included. Some say that MOGAI is a better alternative (marginalized orientations, gender alignments, and intersex) 

[R_1]

I'm not part of it at all. Plus, the poll is missing "depending on the ace".

[Anthracite_Impreza]

I think we are technically, but as you can see it depends on what you define LGBT as (as with so many other things on AVEN...).

[Hermit Advocate]

I think we should technically be because we're not really strait, but I don't feel very included in the LGBT+.

[Lixt]

"Whatever" is pretty much my response. I don't care much about being grouped with uneducated bigots, whether they're straight or not, and they're everywhere, including the LGBT community. Also, when it comes to discussing asexuality, I only listen to A-spec people, so wether it's a "LGBT...A..." community and I have everyone but A on mute or an A stand-alone community, it's pretty much same difference.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Lixt said:

 I don't care much about being grouped with uneducated bigots, whether they're straight or not, and they're everywhere, including the LGBT community.

I don't think the asexual community lacks this sometimes also

[Lixt]

Just now, Mystic Maya said:

I don't think the asexual community lacks this sometimes also

Did I say anything to the contrary?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Lixt said:

Did I say anything to the contrary?

I don't know, if it's a reason to not associate wth lgbt, it could be a reason to not associate with any community including ace community

[Lixt]

The reason is more like not associating with people who will not provide anything but at best generalities, at worst hate, and somewhere in between ignorance or polite indifference. I'm not going to agree with everything the ace community say about asexuality, but I'll listen to their points - whether I'll end up agreeing or not, because it comes from first-hand experiences. I'm all for peer-to-peer debate. But there is no community I will always listen to so yes, to an extent, I'll never really associate with any community whatsoever. I'm not going to listen to the ace community opinion about misogyny, for example, I'll listen to feminists. Some people belong to both, but it's still two different communities about two different topics. With the LGBT(+) community, I see the overlaps less and less. I may have believed in a united front, at some point, when I was a teenager looking for support, but as years passed I realised the link between letters are pretty superficial, and I would tend to call it the LGBT+ communities instead of The LGBT community. That's why having the A weakly attached to it or standing alone doesn't look like a big deal anymore. The part I find more important is to have an strong A community. Regardless of allyships with other communities, that really comes second.

 

I'll also add that the experiences forging my opinion is not only as an asexual in/around the LGBT community, but as someone who used to be a teenager identifying as bisexual, and saw how the B community was a community on its own with occasionnal overlaps with the L or G communities, but also occasionnal agressions. Really you stick with your own. There are some big mouths in the LGBT community, but there's no central power, everyone do their own thing. Being ace exclusionist or inclusionist doesn't hold much. The A will be part of the LGBT+ letters if/when that's the opinion of the general (mostly straight) population, otherwise it will not. There isn't going to be an official vote or decision or welcome.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Lixt said:

The reason is more like not associating with people who will not provide anything but at best generalities, at worst hate, and somewhere in between ignorance or polite indifference. I'm not going to agree with everything the ace community say about asexuality, but I'll listen to their points - whether I'll end up agreeing or not, because it comes from first-hand experiences. I'm all for peer-to-peer debate. But there is no community I will always listen to so yes, to an extent, I'll never really associate with any community whatsoever. I'm not going to listen to the ace community opinion about misogyny, for example, I'll listen to femininists. Some people belong to both, but it's still two different communities about two different topics. With the LGBT(+) community, I see the overlaps less and less. I may have believed in a united front, at some point, when I was a teenager looking for support, but as years passed I realised the link between letters are pretty superficial, and I would tend to call it the LGBT+ communities instead of The LGBT community. That's why having the A weakly attached to it or standing alone doesn't look like a big deal anymore. The part I find mort important is to have an strong A community. Regardless of allyships with other communities, that really comes second.

 

I'll also add that the experiences forging my opinion is not only as an asexual in/around the LGBT community, but as someone who used to be teenager identifying as bisexual, and saw how the B community was a community on its own with occasionnal overlaps with the L or G communities, but also occasionnal agressions. Really you stick with your own. There are some big mouths in the LGBT community, but there's no central power, everyone do their own thing. Being ace exclusionist or inclusionist doesn't hold much. The A will be part of the LGBT+ letters if/when that's the opinion of the general (mostly straight) population, otherwise it will not. There isn't going to be an official vote or decision or welcome.

I understand this, I think the trans community is also often excluded event though it is the "t" part, where people say "lgbt" but they don't really mean the "t" part at all, and then there are lgb people who are transphobic too...

 

I think since I am homo romantic, ace, and trans... I still like the idea of lgbt+ being together though

[Lixt]

3 minutes ago, Mystic Maya said:

I understand this, I think the trans community is also often excluded event though it is the "t" part, where people say "lgbt" but they don't really mean the "t" part at all, and then there are lgb people who are transphobic too...

 

I think since I am homo romantic, ace, and trans... I still like the idea of lgbt+ being together though

Intracommunity transphobia is indeed also something that makes me tend to "not an actual united community but a group of different communities", yes.

 

And I still prefer the idea of a "we stand together" romanticised group. Of course I do. It feels nice. People being a lot like you and totally supportive of the things you don't have in common. Feeling like you can be a part of a single community, instead of having your left foot in one, the right one in another, and random act of agressions between the two with you caught in the middle. But that's not Reality. I personally really tried to fit in a community, at some point. It ended up being really alienating. I'm with B, until they go on an aphobic tangent. I'm super friendly with L, we have some nice laughs and private jokes, until I have to choose a camp, or I am fake, or that day apparently having a same-gender crush but no sexual attraction makes me homophobic. (Yeah I know...) There's isn't a fit-all community.

[Elisalee]

So, short tidbit: I tried to find meetup.com stuff around the LGBT community awhile back. But often times when reading the descriptions I got the distinct hint that I was not really welcome to join in? Not in the sense that they said: "No asexual or aromantics!" but more like, the lack of mentioning me made me feel excluded. So I wound up not joining any of the potential groups I looked at because I did not want to risk going to a meetup and finding out that people of my orientation weren't really invited. X_X

 

I've noticed this trend quite a lot, and do prefer the term LGBT+ over just LGBT... of course I'm open to new terminology as well, and to really push for it amongst others so that it becomes the more broadly used one.

 

I'd like to say we are a part of the LGBT+ community, but I don't think a majority really does currently feel the same. Of course, that's based on my own anecdotal experiences. It's a shame I feel this way. We share many kinds of experiences and should be working together more towards the kind of world that people of a wider spectrum can live in the open with their lifestyle choices.

 

[AVEN #1 fan]

22 hours ago, topit said:

fyi transsexual is kind of an outdated and offensive term not rly used anymore. also transvestite is too. because it refers to someone who dresses up as a different gender. so transvestites (or crossdressers) can actually be any gender identity but they arent inherently transgender. its like, if you have gender presentation and gender identity on a venn diagram they would be independent events but not mutually exclusive events (omg sorry that i always use set theory to describe things  

 

i just wanted to point out that there can be people who identify as both lesbian, gay, bi, etc. as well as ace or aro. (e.g. biromantic asexual or bisexual aromantic) so what you say isn't necessarily true. also GSRM is a sketchy term because apparently it was coined by a pedophile so he would have them included. Some say that MOGAI is a better alternative (marginalized orientations, gender alignments, and intersex) 

Some people identify as transexual and transvestite, they made their way to join the movement in times when calling one gay offensive.

 

Apparently most most people don't even know what MOGAI is.

[R_1]

6 hours ago, Mystic Maya said:

I think since I am homo romantic, ace, and trans... I still like the idea of lgbt+ being together though

Of course you would, and likewise, I kind of prefer the option not to associate because well, I prefer not to be associated with targets of bullying and discrimination. No thanks to that. At least I can opt out these day.

[Guest]

whats sex

[Busrider]

I'd say "12.5%+x yes" as the short answer.

Since although I define as heteroromantic,& cis, I usually end taking a half assed LGBT stand in discussions with homophobics. But I wouldn't know what to get out of the LGBT+, so I don't feel more integrated, like for example an asexual who would like to do same gender PDA and hang there for that reason or maybe to hunt fag haging targets.

[moonnymph]

I believe that the full acronym is LGBTQIA+ so I would say yes we are.    Asexuality fits nicely into the definition of queer as well according to Webster's dictionary: "differing in some odd way from what is usual or normal", sexuals are the 'normal' therefore aces are queer. 

[Altroid]

Yes they do

 

However I'll admitt they don't get nearly the same kind of discrimination as the other parts of the LGBT. My state of being transgender and interest in dating outside the opposite sex has always been the more difficult part of my life.

 

In short being asexual has never gotten me harassment. People seem to not understand it or not believe it's real. Those are just whatever deals I can brush off. It's not ruining my life. 

 

Of course my disposition shows that asexuals also may belong to other parts of the LGBT community. However those crossing identities aren't related specificly to the singular fact you're asexual. 

[RainbowBeam]

I suppose that it's really up to individual people as to what they label themselves as/under. Since the A in LGBTQIA+ stands for ace, asexuals are absolutely part of the community. I always thought that if you're ace, then you can be heteromantic, but you aren't straight since straight is a sexuality. Still, if you didn't feel comfortable labeling yourself as LGBT+ or wanted to consider yourself straight, it's really up to you.

 

I definitely feel that I'm LGBT+ since I'm not heteromantic and I'm obviously not heterosexual. xD Whether I figure out that I'm biromantic or homoromantic or another -romantic, I've left anything that could be defined as "straight" in the rearview window for sure.