10 Reasons Why We Need Asexual Rights

Content warning: sexual violence, medical trauma, forced marriage

When people hear “asexual rights,” the a common reaction is confusion. What rights do you need for not wanting sex? But ace people are assaulted, misdiagnosed, pressured to change, and even criminalized because of their orientation. For Ace Week 2026, Outright International released a new discussion paper, developed with Qwear senior writer Yasmin Benoit and ace advocates from 10 countries, that documents what ace people face and where the law leaves them out.

Here are 10 facts you might not know about Ace rights.

Source: Outright International x Yasmin Benoit, Ace Week 2026

1. Nearly half of ace people report sexual violence

In the 2015 Asexual Community Census, 43.5% of asexual participants reported having experienced sexual violence, and 18.5% said they’d had sex because of pressure from a partner. In a 2021 study of asexual people aged 18–30, 47.5% reported sexual violence as adults. Perpetrators may pressure ace people into sex by dismissing their asexuality, and advocates report that ace survivors are commonly subjected to so-called “corrective rape.” Even so, ace people remain severely underrepresented in sexual violence research and policy.

Sources: Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault; SSWR 2026 – Ace Community Survey analysis; Chan & Hung, Journal of Sex Research

2. In Niger, being ace can now mean prison

Niger’s 2026 penal code names asexual people in a ban on “LGBTQIA+ practices,” punishable by five to 10 years in prison.

Source: Outright International x Yasmin Benoit, Ace Week 2026

3. More than one in three ace adults have been misdiagnosed by doctors

In a 2018 US study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, more than one in three asexual adults said doctors had misdiagnosed them with a medical condition. The study surveyed 136 respondents. Yasmin’s research in the UK documented what that looks like. One patient told their gynaecologist they didn’t want sex and was sent to a psychosexual therapist, who recommended a physical exam of their genitals and then went looking for a “psychological issue.” Another woman’s care was delayed so long that she was left with extensive muscular damage to her pelvis.

Sources: Outright International x Yasmin Benoit, Ace Week 2026; Yasmin Benoit in Stylist

4. Ace people are the group most often forced into conversion therapy

In the UK’s 2018 National LGBT Survey, asexual people were more likely than any other group to have been offered or undergone conversion practices. 7.9% had been offered them, and 2.3% had undergone them. The pressure doesn’t always come from clinics. An ace woman from Guinea fled the country after her parents chose a husband for her to fix her “aversion to the idea of marriage.”

Source: Outright International x Yasmin Benoit, Ace Week 2026

5. US marriage law can let a marriage be voided over sex

In Millar v. Millar (1917), the California Supreme Court held that entering a marriage without intending to have sex was grounds for annulment. Today, a California marriage can be annulled if a spouse is incurably incapable of entering the marriage, which courts have read as being unable to consummate it. Annulment grounds in other states have included failure to consummate (Alaska) and physical incapacity to consummate (Colorado and Connecticut).

Sources: Millar v. Millar (1917); Cal. Fam. Code § 2210; Stepanek v. Stepanek summary; Encyclopedia.com – Annulment by state

6. The FDA approved drugs to “treat” a lack of sexual desire, and ace advocates warned they’d be aimed at them

Before Addyi was approved in 2015, the Asexual Visibility and Education Network warned the FDA that marketing it to doctors would lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment of ace people. A second drug, Vyleesi, followed in 2019.

Sources: Newsweek; KFF Health News

7. Medical manuals still blur asexuality with disorder

The World Health Organization’s disease classification, the ICD-11, doesn’t separate asexual people from people with a low-desire dysfunction. The American DSM-5 does include an exclusion for people who self-identify as asexual. But it sits in the notes, appears only in the full version, and is missing from the desk reference. Someone who has never heard the word asexual can’t claim it.

Sources: Outright International x Yasmin Benoit, Ace Week 2026; Asexuality Archive – Asexuality in the DSM-5; Asexuality Archive – SF Unconference

8. Not a single country protects ace people by name

No UN member state names asexuality in its national nondiscrimination law. In the US, New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act is the rare state law that does, and it was the first in the country to include asexuality. Across most of the US, ace people have no explicit protection at work, in housing, or in public life.

Sources: Outright International x Yasmin Benoit, Ace Week 2026; NY Attorney General – SONDA; Wikipedia – SONDA

9. Ace people face more everyday discrimination than other LGB people

A UCLA Williams Institute study found asexual adults reported more everyday discrimination and stigma than non-asexual LGB adults.

Source: Williams Institute

10. Ace youth reported higher rates of anxiety and depression than other LGBTQ youth

In The Trevor Project’s 2020 survey of more than 40,000 LGBTQ youth, 10% identified as asexual or ace spectrum. Those ace youth reported higher rates of anxiety and depression than other LGBTQ youth, and 41% were transgender or nonbinary. Trevor says they must be included in suicide prevention efforts.

Sources: The Trevor Project – Asexual and Ace Spectrum Youth; The Trevor Project research brief

The paper ends with questions for policymakers, donors, and queer movements, including how conversion practice laws can fully protect asexual people and how research and data can finally count them in. Read the full paper here.

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