wow another misinformed person who thinks that straight aces and aros are lgbt. why am i not surprised. not every one belongs everywhere. you can accept straight aces and aros, but do not tell them that they are lgbt because they 100% are not. lgbt spaces are for lgbt people case closed. maybe you should brush up on lgbt issues before you invite straight people to be a part of our community.

Please take a step back and listen to how you just conducted that sentence. I’m not quite sure where you’re coming from in life, but it sounds like you’ve been through quite a bit with your identity. So have I. And when I found myself a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I finally found a huge group of people who accepted me and supported me. I hope the same happened for you. And if not, I hope it happens soon, because everyone deserves that.

Consider people who observe no sexual or romantic attraction, which are legitimate identities, who feel wrong for one way or another. They’re asexual and/or aromantic, regardless of gay or straight, and that still falls under the A in the acronym, but I keep hearing that one half’s not different enough. Not oppressed enough. I would first say, none of us know everyone’s story, and there’s no way we will, so we don’t know what everyone has gone through with their identity. And second, when did this community become solely about how oppressed we are? [EDIT: Upon reviewing this, I should specify it is important to note the group was founded because of systemic oppression, and that is VERY important. I mean that we are also a group of support and lifting ourselves up and being proud of who we are as a diverse community, as well as continuing to fight the systemic oppression that faces many of us]. If we, as a group, achieve what I hope we can achieve idealistically and not be oppressed, are we still not a group to be proud of? Why wouldn’t we want this group to be an absolute celebration of all legitimate varieties? A celebration of all our unique experiences and struggles? They’re all different and valid.

Is this demographic of people with a legitimate sexual and/or romantic identity to make their own little group? To be made to feel like outcasts in the real world as well as in this group? I feel that this just furthers the negative, unfriendly attitude that already greatly exists in this world and I don’t wanna promote that. I just would think something like excluding would be for those who make us feel unsafe and that would only be on a case-by-case basis, not for a whole demographic who feel out of place and just want to belong, right? I don’t wanna be that way to people the way the world was to me. They’re not lgbt, but they are A, and that’s part of the LGBTQIA+ community, right? And of course I can’t change what you believe. And you’re right, I can accept them! I shall, because acceptance in this community is what inspired me and helped me when I felt lost, and I want to be that for others. [EDIT: I also want to stress that, the bottom line here is that all I’d like is for us to take time, ALL of us, asexuals and aromantics included, to educate ourselves, try to understand and respect each other’s individual struggles/experiences/stories, because they ARE all different. Empathy and trust is key because this line of distrust does not seem to be going in a positive direction. It seems to be leading to negativity, divisiveness, and name-calling and I don’t like seeing that. That’s not what I think many of us are trying to achieve. Sorry for typing so much haha]