Don’t Erase the Ace

LGBTQIA. The last two letters often are left off or misinterpreted. I is for intersex, and A is for asexual (not “allies”).

Asexuals (“Aces”) are often one of the most misunderstood sexual minorities. We aren’t “broken”, “malfunctioning”, “in need of therapy to correct our problem”, “dysfunctional”, “repressed”, etc. We often get pushed to “just try it, you’ll like it” regarding sex, yet many of us have done just that, and we would rather read a book.

Some asexuals are romantic, some are not and prefer to not be in relationships. Some of us end up in affectionate relationships with each other, but just don’t bother with “the sex thing”. The AVEN website discusses a lot of the permutations and has a pretty good FAQ.

Asexuals can be attracted to men, women or both, or neither, but have no interest in having sex. So yes, bisexual asexual is a thing — it means you like both, but don’t want sex with either.

But please, don’t drop off those last two letters, and don’t think that the “A’ stands for “Allies”. It doesn’t. Don’t erase the Ace.