First let me say that I don't in any way begrudge asexual people's inclusion under the LGBTQ umbrella, mainly because I can't think of even the smallest bit of harm including them could do.
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This is an interesting conversation, but I think there's more we need to acknowledge when thinking about asexual inclusion in the LGBTQ movement, and why it can feel like an odd fit.https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/09/asexuality-queer-umbrella-question.html …
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However, it's not as simple as saying that compulsory sexuality exists and leaving it there. The opposite attitude coexists in our culture: Sexual desire is still stigmatized as dirty, unseemly, and wrong- and this was much more true at the dawn of what's now the LGBTQ movement.
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It's true that our mainstream culture is quite sexualized, and lacking sexual desire is seen as deficient. But in Christianity, sex is closely connected with sin. In the early church celibacy was the ideal and marriage was reserved for those who weren't able to be celibate.
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The celibacy of the Catholic priesthood is a remnant from those times. And we all know that Christian sex education starts and ends with abstinence, which is presented as a straightforward matter of resisting the temptation to sin.
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Devout Christians are horrified by the way sex is glorified by popular culture, and in many communities public sexlessness, prudishness, and chastity is still rigidly enforced as right and proper and conforming to God's will.
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Rigorously enforced sexlessness in public life was the dominant culture at the dawn of the modern LGBTQ rights movement (which was then known as the gay rights movement). Gay rights began with a rebellion against prudishness and sexlessness.
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Prudish anti-sex attitudes are at the bedrock of many conservative beliefs. Women who seek abortions or birth control are stigmatized for having sex. Racism around the welfare system is based in disgust that nonwhite people are having sex.
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There is stigma against asexuals- I'm not remotely saying there isn't. But, we still have stigma against sexuals at the same time.
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Again, I don't mean this as an argument against including asexuals in the LGBTQ umbrella. They are a sexual minority, they experience stigma, let em in.
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But, let's acknowledge it's awkward bc the Gay Rights movement was rooted in rebellion against a culture that saw sexual desire as sinful, and that culture isn't entirely gone. It coexists with the compulsory-sexuality culture asexuals accurately describe and chafe against.
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End of conversation
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