Exploring Aromantic People's Sense of Belonging to the Queer Community

Aromantic people are defined as experiencing little to no romantic attraction, and are widely considered part of the queer community. However, aromantic people often face exclusion and ignorance from the broader queer community, which may negatively affect their sense of belonging and be detrimental for their mental health and wellbeing. This research aimed to investigate how aromantic people experience belonging to the aromantic and queer communities, and how this belonging affected their wellbeing. I conducted online, text-based interviews with 10 aromantic participants, using reflexive thematic analysis to construct 4 themes out of the data: 1. “Healing with each other in our shared confusion over the concept of romance”: Positive Effects of Aromantic Belonging; 2. Aromantic People are Queer; 3. Experiences of Exclusion from the Queer Community; 4. Aromantic Spectrum Identities and Non-Typical Presentations Complicate Aromantic Belonging. Overall, aromantic people strongly feel that they belong to the queer community, and greatly benefit from and value belonging to both aromantic and queer communities. However, their sense of belonging is often negatively impacted by experiences of explicit and implicit exclusion. Aromantic belonging and mental health can be improved with increased education and awareness of aromanticism in the queer community.