“Make It Obvious It’s a Safe Space, and People Will Come”: Yasmin Benoit on Asexual Inclusion in Pride

In our recent Pride Around the World report, we include a section on asexual inclusion in Pride, charting the growth of ace organizing in various parts of the world. As an asexual activist, what does Pride mean for you?

Pride is important in a strategic sense and in a personal sense. Pride as a movement and as a community is about destigmatizing sexuality, celebrating your individuality, fighting for equality, and expanding and challenging heteronormative ideas. It always seemed strange to me that asexuality wasn't a more significant part of it. 

Conversations about sexuality are incomplete without asexuality. Sexual freedom is also about being able to say no and being able to say, actually, I don't want to do that, whether it’s something specific or anything at all. That’s sexual freedom to me. It is a very sex-positive message. I feel like it is part of sex positivity and sexual liberation to be inclusive of asexuality. 

Asexuality can also help broaden our idea of sexual liberation. Some people, who are not necessarily asexual, are way more jaded with relationships and dating culture and all these things, and they’re starting to recognize what the asexual and aromantic communities have been saying for years. Some people are like, damn, is my sexual liberation myself? Can it actually just be me understanding my own body? It doesn't have to be dependent on other people all the time.

Has Pride been a safe space for you?

When I first started doing Pride events, there was a lot of pushback, and there were articles, people on the radio saying, why would asexual people want to go to Pride? Why would they need a space there? What exactly are they doing? How does this connect? This was usually coming from a very specific exclusionary part of the community, people who regurgitate the idea that there aren't enough seats at the table if an “extra” group is included.

The vibes online compared to the vibes in person are very different. In person, Pride is a lot more inclusive, but the rhetoric online has made asexual people in particular think, “I don't know whether we can go to this, because you see a lot of the hate.” You see me going viral for going to Pride, and everyone's hating on me, and it kind of makes people feel afraid, whereas in person, it's amazing. In reality, the people that are complaining about Pride being too inclusive probably aren't even there.

Can you tell us about what you describe as the “butterfly effect” of Pride?

My favorite personal Pride was in 2019 in London. I was hosting the first asexual pop-up bar there called “Ace of Clubs.” I only found out about this on the internet later, but I met someone on the train and we were making small talk.. They asked me where I was heading, so I said that I was going to Ace of Clubs and they said they were asexual too. I didn't really think much about it, but then later on, that person posted online that their encounter with me made them come out as asexual to their family because it just felt so randomly significant that we would cross paths in that context. 

That taught me about the butterfly effect of Pride and visibility. Until then, I did not realize that just being there, visibly walking around with a flag out in public, could actually change the course of someone else's life.

In March 2026, Niger published a new penal code which explicitly criminalizes “LGBTQIA+ practices,” including “asexual practices.” You have personally been on the receiving end of attacks from anti-trans and anti-queer actors. As an asexual person being targeted as part of this broader backlash, what does queer solidarity mean for you?

I think the solidarity comes from acknowledging that we are all part of the same conversation, and that we didn't actually achieve liberation because we left people out. Homosexuality was demedicalized, but asexuality wasn't, and trans identities weren't. The fight is not over. 

I think solidarity comes in the form of looking outside of the bubble and seeing what is still happening to different groups. We should look at who's being left behind, or who didn't even have the same progress as we did. When we're talking about conversion practices, we're going to include you. When we're fighting to be included in the school curriculum, we're going to include you.

What should organizers do to ensure that Pride is inclusive for everyone?

First, ensure that diverse voices are in the room. A lot of the time, I'll hear people say, “I don't even know any asexual people, I don't know how to reach out to these communities.” If there was just one ace person involved here, then they could tell you who the organizations are. They could tell you where their community groups are.

You can make it a lot easier for people to show up by making the environments inclusive and being explicit about it. When I did my first international Pride in the Czech Republic, and when I did it in Serbia afterward, there was such a big asexual turnout because the organizers had promoted my participation and said, “We're bringing an asexual person in, we want to speak to those communities, we want them here.” Loads of people came. That's literally all you have to do: make it obvious that it is a safe space, and then people will come.

It also helps to consider that maybe your spaces aren’t as intersectional as you think they are. Do not be afraid to critique yourselves and ask questions about whether you could be doing more. I always say that it's just keeping the same energy that people already have for different communities. I see it all the time; lots of places know how to be more racially inclusive, trans-inclusive etc. If you know the significance of showing up for different groups and how, just do the same for asexual people.

What is your message to asexual communities this month?

You are welcome, despite what you might hear on Twitter or TikTok or whichever platform you’re on. And the butterfly effect is real. You might go there thinking, well, I'm just one person with my little flag, what difference does it make? 

It takes showing up for someone else to see and be like, “Let me bring my flag next time. Let me go next time. Maybe we can get together, talk, and form another organization.” That is how things start. It starts with people showing up. So do not be afraid to show up.