In recent years our society has grown more accepting of differences, whether those differences be in neurology, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Many individuals on the autism spectrum are diverse in more ways than one: research has shown autistic individuals are more likely to identify as LGBTQIA+. 

In particular, “autistic adults and adolescents are approximately eight times more likely to identify as asexual and ‘other’ sexuality than their non-autistic peers. And there were sex differences in sexual orientation: autistic males are 3.5 times more likely to identify as bisexual than non-autistic males, whereas autistic females are three times more likely to identify as homosexual than non-autistic females.”*

Autistic individuals are also between three and six times more likely than neurotypical people to identify as trans or nonbinary. Sadly, LGBTQIA+ autistic individuals are more likely to experience poor mental health compared to cisgendered and straight autistic people, something that many researchers attribute to minority stress and lack of social acceptance. This stress is most pronounced among those who live in non-affirming families and communities. 

Risk of suicide is elevated among both neurotypical LGBTIA+ and straight and cisgendered autistic populations, but autistic LGBTIA+ youth have a substantially higher suicide risk than either of those two groups. In light of this, acceptance isn’t just the right thing to do, but rather an essential life-saving measure. 

Many LGBTQIA+ autistic individuals have identified parallels between masking autistic traits to gain social acceptance and avoid rejection and hiding their sexual orientation or gender identity for the same reasons. The rainbow infinity sign was created as a symbol of neurodiversity by autistic LGBTQIA+ people for that reason.

This Pride Month, Washington Autism Alliance calls on our community and beyond to further advance the progress towards accepting human diversity. Your commitment now helps to ensure that future generations of autistic and LGBTQIA+ people will never feel the need to hide or mask who they are in order to be accepted. Lives depend on it.