Well hey, we're being included.

[you*hear*but*do*you*listen]

I've been noticing that some blanket queer groups are starting to be very accepting of asexuality. Specifically, I just went to a wonderful conference for all things queer called "Transcending Boundaries" where I was presented with the longest alphabet soup acronym I have ever seen: LGBTQQIIAPPK&GQ. It stood for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, interested, asexual, pansexual, polyamorous, kinky and genderqueer. Yeah, that's right, the "A" was for "asexual," not "ally." I know that one argument against aces being included in blanket queer movements/organizations/events/etc. is that they wouldn't be too accepting of us...but the queer movement isn't just about who you're sexually attracted to anymore. Now there's gender, polyamorous, kinky etc. stuff too. So if they're going to accept us...who are we to say no?

[siggy]

I think that's par for the course. Many queer groups would like to include asexuals, but the best they can really do is list them as part of the extended acronym. I'm betting that they didn't actually have any workshops on asexuality.

And how could they? You can't just create a workshop out of nothing. You actually need an asexual to volunteer to run one.

[sciatrix]

Actually, the whole "listing asexuals but never, ever mentioning them otherwise" is something I see in a lot of spaces that would like to be asexual friendly but... never actually focus on ace issues. (Not necessarily queer-specific spaces, either.) Siggy's got a really good point about outreach, though.

Also, I'm not sure that I agree that kinky and poly people are unanimously accepted as queer. I've seen a lot of criticism of otherwise heterosexual kinky or poly people taking on a queer identity. And technically gender issues fall under transgender, so that's not actually anything new. And I think queer acceptance of asexuals under the banner isn't a unanimous thing by far at all, either. I've seen a lot of admittedly Internet-based horrible reactions by queer people to the idea that asexuals might identify as queer, particularly heteroromantic asexuals.

I'm playing devil's advocate to an extent here, by the way--I'm all for asexuality as a form of queerness and outreach to the queer community! I'm just not sure that going "well, the queer community accepts us with open arms!" is necessarily a good way to challenge the "they don't accept us anyway!" argument, because... well, not everyone does. Realistically, the queer community is not a monolithic entity, and some people are going to get asexuality and be good allies, and some people are going to be hateful and attempt to invalidate asexuality as an orientation for various reasons. It's awesome that some of them are accepting and fantastic, though, and getting more of them to be accepting should be an asexuality goal, I think.

(Also, I originally heard about Transcending Boundaries through an ace blog written by one of the panelists. I find that amusing. There actually was a workshop there, Siggy, if I understand correctly.)

[you*hear*but*do*you*listen]

Actually, Siggy, they had an asexuality panel run by three AVENites. They asked me to join them next year. Also, if some queer groups use the "A" in their acronym but don't talk about ace issues...well, that's a good way for us aces to find them and see if they're really allies, isn't it?

[aanz]

From experience:

The problem is not about getting included - it is getting our own group of people to participate....

Michael
AANZ Webmaster
www.asexuality.org.nz

[murray]

It is kind of a bit much to expect a group to address the issues of a community that has one or possibly no members in the group. Caring is really all they can do in that situation. We need to give them something to work with, and if we really expect anything, we'll probably need to initiate it ourselves. It's only sense.

[you*hear*but*do*you*listen]

Dec 5, 2010 13:50:44 GMT -5 murray said:

It is kind of a bit much to expect a group to address the issues of a community that has one or possibly no members in the group. Caring is really all they can do in that situation. We need to give them something to work with, and if we really expect anything, we'll probably need to initiate it ourselves. It's only sense.

Right, and like I said, the listing-only of asexuality in blanket queer groups is a good cue for aces to find those groups and be able to say "Hey, I can help with this".