More than a quarter (27 per cent) of young asexual adults rarely or never feel part of the LGBTQ+ community, new research shared exclusively with GAY TIMES by Just Like Us, the LGBTQ+ young people’s charity, has shown.
Just three in 10 (30 per cent) young asexual adults said they always feel part of the LGBTQ+ community, while the same amount said they sometimes feel that way.
Almost one in five (18 per cent), however, shared that they rarely feel included in the community.
Almost one in 10 (nine per cent) said they never feel part of it.
Young asexual adults were the most likely part of the LGBTQ+ community to feel excluded from it, closely followed by gay men (26 per cent), lesbians (12 per cent), trans people (11 per cent) and bisexuals (19 per cent).
READ MORE: LGBTQ+ 101 – What does asexual mean?
Asexuals of colour were found to be more likely to feel excluded from the LGBTQ+ community than their white counterparts at a rate of 39 per cent to 24 per cent, respectively.
Amy Ashenden, interim CEO of Just Like Us, said: “Sadly, we can see that asexual young adults are feeling excluded from the wider LGBT+ community.
“I hope that this research makes clear the need for greater awareness of the lived experiences and realities of asexual people, especially as we can see a wider pattern here of LGBT+ people of colour feeling excluded from our community.
“We know that the best way for LGBT+ young people to feel less alone is through inclusive education in schools. We invite all schools to take part in School Diversity Week this 26-30 June to send a positive message of acceptance to their young people who may be LGBT+ or have LGBT+ families.”
READ MORE: I’ve realised I’m asexual but have internalised aphobia, so what now?
The data forms part of a new report by Just Like Us called Positive Futures, due to be published on 1 June.
The research was carried out independently by Cibyl in January 2023.
As part of this study, 3,695 young people aged 18 to 25 were surveyed.
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