Autistic gay people
News and Learning
Sexuality and gender are spectrums, as is autism. People’s sexuality and gender identities do not necessarily conform to specific guidelines. In fact, it is more common for autistic individuals to deviate from gender norms. Gender norms are set ideas that attempt to dictate the ways a person should act, look, and identify based on their gender. In a similar way, autistic individuals are expected to fit a label developed by neurotypical individuals. Understanding the overlap of autism and LGBTQIA+ identities is an important step in validating our neurodiverse community. Autism serves as a gateway to gender and sexuality exploration and expression by challenging cisgender and heterosexual societal norms.
So, how do autistic individuals deviate from societal norms about gender and sexuality? According to storyteller Laura Dattaro, “A Australian survey of transgender adolescents and young adults create that percent had been diagnosed with autism, compared with percent of all Australians. Some experts estimate that 6 to percent of gender-diverse people are autistic.” T
Marina Sarris
Date Revised: June 12,
One day, Riley Smith learned from some former co-workers that an acquaintance had come out as transgender. Smith felt glad for the acquaintance, but she also felt something else. &#;Afterward, in the days and weeks that followed, I felt a different emotion that I recognized as envy. It led to me to ask myself increasingly tough questions about who I was.&#;
Assigned male at birth, Smith eventually came to realize that she is a transgender woman. As an autistic person, she is not alone. A higher percentage of autistic people identify as woman loving woman, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) than the general population, according to research studies. A Gallup poll found that percent of Americans identify as LGBT.
Studies vary widely on the percentage of people with autism who are gay, lesbian, or attracted to both genders. One analysis suggested the rate is 15 to 35 percent among autistic people who do not have intellectual disability. 2
&#;Most of the data that we&#;re seeing is that [the LGB rate] is two to three times higher,&#; say
Research indicates that autistic people are more likely to identify as belonging to the LGBTQ+ group. This means that autistic people can experience a wider range of gender expression. Furthermore, autistic people are more likely to not be straight. Basically, it&#;s not uncommon to be lgbtq+ and autistic.
Obviously this doesn&#;t mean that being autistic makes you queer. (Or being lgbtq+ makes you autistic.) All this means is that autistic people tend to be a more diverse group when it comes to gender identity and sexual orientation.
Exploring the LGBTQ+ and autism link
A study conducted by the University of Cambridge indicates that autistic people are more likely to identify as LGBTQ+. The team at their Autism Analyze Center used an anonymous self-report survey that was filled out by over 1, autistic and 1, non-autistic individuals. The results were fascinating &#; autistic people are 8 times more likely to identify with a sexual identity that wasn&#;t heteronormative. In other words, these autists aren&#;t straight. Go us! I sense that!
Other research indicates that aut
Marina Sarris
Date Revised: April 9,
People often face rejection when they say they are LGBQ+, but Jada Thompson also contended with something else when she came out: disbelief. Thompson is autistic, so some people assumed that she didn&#;t know what she was saying.
&#;Certain people spot us as children. Maybe they have seen an autistic person who seems to have a child-like innocence, but that&#;s not usually the case,&#; says Thompson, who participates in SPARK, the largest progressing study of autism.
Thompson, 25, identifies as pansexual, which is an attraction to people of any gender identity, and nonbinary, which means not simply female or male. Thompson, whose pronouns are she/they, wants to be accepted for who she is. That struggle is made more difficult by stereotypes and misperceptions about autism, sexuality, and gender, she says.
&#;None of my identities are really accepted,&#; says Thompson, who is also Jet. &#;I found out there are a lot more queer people in the autism community. That made me feel better, and I was able to find community there.&#;
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