The LGBTQ Resource Center will be hosting an Advanced Ally Training on asexuality from noon to 1 p.m Thursday at the Student Center South Synergy Room.
Students and faculty will have the opportunity to learn about asexuality and other identities and ways to become better allies for the LGBTQ community at UH.
The training will cover what asexuality means, misconceptions about the identity and the impacts that marginalization has on asexual individuals.
By definition, an asexual individual does not typically experience sexual desire, but graduate assistant and event coordinator Liam Stone said there are individuals who experience sexual desire but have just no instinct to act on them.
“(There is no) clear, defined, black and white definition, which is why the workshop is necessary,” Stone said. “We (will) talk about all of the different variations and why asexuality exists as a spectrum and as an umbrella term as opposed to gay or lesbian.”
The first half of the training will be interactive, with trivia games and a short film, followed by a Q&A featuring a panel of students and faculty who identify as asexual.
“The Q&A is the shining moment in terms of education because it really allows the audience members to ask the questions that brought them to the workshop in the first place,” Stone said.
LGBTQ Program Coordinator Lorraine Schroeder said asexual individuals often struggle with validation because their sexual identity is not understood and accepted by society.
“One of the myths is that people don’t believe that they’re asexual,” Schroeder said. “They say there is no such thing, and it’s erasing who they are.”
Schroeder said that aside from aiming to educate, the training will help make better allies out of people who attend the training.
“Anytime somebody understands something, then they are more likely to behave with sensitivity toward the people who identify with whatever they identify,” Schroeder said.
The Advanced Ally Training programs were established after an external review revealed there was a demand for training on specific identities. These trainings have covered identities such as bisexual, polysexual, transgender and intersex. The “asexual and others” will be the third training and will conclude the series.
“(We’re having) these specific conversations about the different communities within the LGBTQ community at large,” Stone said.
Those who are interested in participating can register at the LGBTQ Resource Center’s event page.
