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EmailIt’s Ace Awareness Week, a week dedicated to raising awareness of and uplifting ace identities – but I think it’s more than that. It is a crucial time to raise awareness of the reality of being part of the ace community, a group that's too often left out of the conversation.
If you’re unsure about the different ace identities, that is okay, but why not take some time to learn? You can find all the definitions over on Stonewall’s Ace Hub.
We need weeks like this to highlight the troubling gap between the experiences of ace people and the rest of the LGBTQ+ community. For example, the last National LGBT Survey found that asexual people are 10% more likely to be offered or to undergo conversion therapy than other orientations.
There's still a long way to go before ace people are fully seen and, respected in society. That's why I teamed up with Stonewall in 2022 to launch the Ace in the UK report last year, shedding light on the challenges ace communities face. After all, we can't effectively push for change without understanding our unique needs.
The Ace in the UK report
The Ace in the UK Report uncovered for the first time the shocking experiences of healthcare, workplace and societal discrimination that ace people face in the UK, and the need for better legal and policy protections.
What were the key findings?
The report highlights significant challenges faced by ace people when it comes to openness and understanding. Only 1 in 4 ace individuals are open about their sexuality to their friends, often due to negative experiences and societal misunderstandings.
In healthcare, ace people are 50% more likely to never disclose their orientation, with fears of negative reactions or past bad experiences contributing to this.
Additionally, 18% reported that coming out as ace negatively impacted their healthcare, particularly in reproductive health and inappropriately having their asexuality assessed as a mental health condition.
One thing is clear - the report highlighted a serious lack of understanding about ace identities, and the huge impact it has on us. Many of us feel less comfortable being open about who we are in different spaces. This reality leads to negative experiences in healthcare, work and in our day-to-day lives.
Ace people deserve to feel safe being themselves in all settings.
So, one year on, where are we now?
There is a huge lack of research around asexuality, and even less on asexual discrimination. The research we do have is limited but quantitative, without examining how the discrimination is happening, where and what can be done about it. That was why I wanted to release the Ace in the UK report with Stonewall.
Now, we have something to reference when speaking about those issues – with clear case studies. Ace discrimination isn’t just something that’s spoken about within the ace community, now it’s a topic across a range of organisations, and in Parliament.
The report has allowed me to do even more work with the NHS – even presenting its findings at the NHS LGBT Conference this year – to educate healthcare workers about what asexuality really is. It’s been doing the rounds across different NHS organisations and private healthcare providers, and with wide range of companies. It’s been amazing to see more companies with asexual employees starting to make provisions for their staff, including them explicitly in their policies, electing ace representatives and putting on events.
In policy conversations, conversion practices are back on the agenda with the Labour Government, who say they want an inclusive ban, I’ve had the opportunity to visit Westminster to meet with Parliamentarians to highlight the importance of asexual inclusion. It’s been incredible to meet with politicians from not just Labour, but also the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, and The Green Party, and to receive such earnest interest and encouragement. I’ll be one of the stakeholders looking at the proposed legislation once it’s drafted.
Ace inclusion in the ban would be a positive first step, but not the end of the road. We need to see ace equality being considered in a wide range of policy discussions including in education and health and I'm positive change is coming. More recently, I’ve begun doing more research into acephobia with Kings College London, with our first collaborative paper into asexual misconceptions and tolerance coming out soon.
I hope people can take time to uplift the ace community this Ace Awareness Week. Ace people deserve to be seen, heard and respected, no matter where we are.
