#lgbtqa – @alt-loser on Tumblr

before you dismiss aphobia, maybe consider that:

most of us have grown up in a heteronormative education system that has told us that not feeling sexual attraction is abnormal, or even a straight up mental illness (just to be clear, it is not). even the most progressive curriculums won’t include us, and that makes it harder for us to discover and accept our acespec identities.
we have the second highest rate of sexual assault compared to the other members of the lgbt community.
some countries won’t recognize marriages as legitimate until you consummate them, and in many others, including the us, refusal to have sex is a valid reason to get a marriage annulled, so imagine being an ace who doesn’t have sex.
studies show that landlords are just as likely to kick out ace tenants as they are gay ones. now, obviously it’s easier to just not be out to your landlord if you’re ace, but no one should have to be closeted so they don’t lose their home.
aces who grow up in religious environments aren’t accepted by their churches most of the time. even if it seems like religious communities prefer chastity, they want you to have sex eventually, and since asexual people don’t tend to do that, they’re outcasted for their sexuality.
the russian government classified asexuality as a mental illness, so now russian asexuals aren’t able to get drivers licenses which i know is oddly specific but it’s also fucking insane and such blatant aphobia that i had to share it
we aren’t ever included in media. ever. we get no representation. actually, i’ll bet that out of all the lgbtq identities, we get the least amount of recognition. seriously, think about it, because i can’t name a single asexual character except for todd chavez from bojack horseman and the one episode of house where he “cured” an ace couple. like c’mon, that’s ridiculous.
many ace people can tell you stories of doctors trying to “cure” them of their asexuality by trying to convince them of sexual assaults that never happened, telling aces with chronic pain that that’s the reason why they’re ace, or giving them hormones that they don’t need. there’s so much bias against us in the medical field and we shouldn’t have to waste our time, or money anymore.
the lack of representation doesn’t help, because there’s so many misconceptions about asexuality, and almost all of them hurt us. no one understands us, and tbh i’m sick of being called a plant, or emotionless, or incapable of love.
half of the lgbtq community fucking hates us. there’s so much unnecessary vitriol towards us that i honestly don’t like telling other queer people that i’m asexual because then we need to talk about discourse for two hours and i get talked over. even if you don’t think we’re lgbt (you would be wrong though), you don’t need to hate us or make fun of us. there’s no reason for us to be your laughing stock.
when we do speak up about what we experience, we either get a “who cares” or confused aphobia from straight people, or just a “aces aren’t lgbt lol” from other lgbtq people who don’t care, and don’t want to listen to us.
allo people want to speak on acespec identities and issues when they don’t understand them at all, haven’t consulted with any of us, haven’t done research, and don’t bother to listen to us when we explain them. the best part is that most of the time, their voices drown out ours when these issues come up. wonderful. when people want to talk about trans issues for example, normally they educate themselves first and talk to actual trans people first (this is definitely not everyone though), but we don’t get the same respect.

and that’s a small sample of half of what we go through. even if you don’t think we’re lgbt or whatever (i’m prepared for the enevitable argument over this that will break out in the comments of the post), respect us, listen to us, don’t talk over us, and educate yourself! i’m sick of all the arguments and hate and misunderstanding. we already have so much stacked up against us, so at least give us your respect.

#aspec positivity #ace exclusion #asexuality #asexual #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqa #queer #ace pride #gay