Is aromanticism part of the LGBTQ+ community?

[Littleface]

On a personal level I think it's up to the individual. If someone who is aro classes themself as a part of the LGBTQ+ community or queer that's up to them. If they don't, that's also a decision I respect.

On a purely functional level, having the Aspec community be part of LGBTQ+ umbrella is helpful for finding likeminded people, groups, resources etc but this isn't without fault. Whilst larger organisations are taking more and more notice of us, in smaller towns this isn't so. It can be disheartening when smaller local groups don't seem ace/aro inclusive...for example, my local town's LGBT+ website does not have any information mentioning if they welcome aro/ace individuals. Of course, it should be a given seen as most of the larger organisations now have pages dedicated to us, but due to our history of being excluded by certain sectors of the queer community, I think most of us have a bit of a cageyness. I could always seek this info out and I don't think they would be hostile towards me asking if they welcome us, but the lack of clear cut evidenced support on their website tells me straight away they don't seem to have many aspec members. Closest option for me is in the city where there is an aro/ace exclusive group, but that is harder to travel to for me as the group's sessions take place in the evening.

On a further note regarding the prevelance of Aspec folk in LGBT+ spaces, one thing I've noticed is one of the reasons we take up as much 'space'. I don't think it's only down to our statistically lower numbers, but also down to the average disposition of the aro/ace individual as a whole. Based on my experience, we seem to be a very introverted lot, where as the gay, lesbian, bi, trans and other adjacent communties are extremely extroverted.

[Random-Aroace]

I personally feel like queer is very large umbrella category to encompass all of us who don’t identify with the cishetallo label…