How I Got Involved in Activism

Growing up, I had a hard time finding my voice or believing that I had one. I was easily intimidated into thinking that my opinions, experiences, and feelings didn’t matter. I thought I was broken, alone, and unimportant.

That was until I found asexuality and started to learn about it. It wasn’t an immediate switch that turned on. I started with just telling a few close friends. Even then, I was learning who truly supported me and who didn’t. There were friends I learned weren’t who I hoped they were. But finding community online helped.

I started on Twitter by reading posts by educators like Ace Dad Advice and Yasmin Benoit. But when Pride wrapped up in 2020, my first Pride that I actually felt like I belonged at least online (seeing as there weren’t in-person events at the time due to the state of the world at that moment), I saw a large spike in acephobic rhetoric.

I’d finally found the words I searched my whole life to find. I couldn’t let this stand. So I decided to try and use my voice, to share my story. Over a seven day span in July 2020, I shared my journey one thread per day, focusing on one story at a time. It was the first time I felt seen. Maybe not a lot of people saw it, but some did.

It was frightening to do. I remember being so afraid afterwards that I deactivated my account for a while after a family member I wasn’t out to had found it. But it was also incredibly empowering. I returned a few months later, and while I didn’t start conversations for a while, I chimed in here and there, building my confidence and finding my voice.

I’m forever grateful that I took that risk. My entire goal has always been to be the voice that I needed when I was still in my formative years. I hope I can be that for others. Now that I have that voice, I’m not willing to give it up. If anything, I’m only going to get louder.