The Carnival of Aces is a long-running monthly asexuality-themed blogging event, run by The Asexual Agenda. Each month, the host picks a theme and puts out a call for submissions from the community, then collects the submissions into a roundup post at the end of the month. (Last month’s Carnival was hosted by Writing Ace, and the theme was Asexual Education.)

The theme I have selected for this month is “Ace-ing It Up Offline“.

The roundup of submissions is here.

Last month was Pride Month, and I was fortunate enough to travel to San Francisco for the annual Ace Unconference and to march with the Asexuality SF contingent in the San Francisco Pride Parade. It really struck me how important, how energizing, a physical ace presence can be. I do most of my activism from in front of a keyboard, so it’s a very different experience to grab a flag and go for a walk.

That’s why I picked the theme of “Ace-ing It Up Offline” for this month. I’d like to hear about how all of you approach asexuality in physical, off-line spaces.

Here are a few possible prompts, but please feel free to talk about anything else that might come to mind:

Do you attend a physical ace meetup group? How is it organized? What are the meetups like? What do you get out of them? Is there anything you would change about them?

What sorts of off-line/real-world asexuality related events or activities would you like to see?

Are there any barriers that prevent you from taking part in real-world ace activities? What are some ways those barriers can be torn down?

Do you approach asexuality differently off-line vs. on-line?

Do you make an effort to be “visibly ace”?

Do you ever reach out to other ace groups or people beyond your local area?

Are you involved with a local Queer/LGBTQIA+ center? Do you focus on asexuality education?

Have you ever done any asexuality outreach or visibility work for non-aces in your community? What was it like? Do you have any tips to share?

Have you ever taken part in a pride parade or other pride event? Were you accepted?

Have you ever come across another ace “in the wild”?

Pictures! Send pictures of your ace meetup groups, pride marches, ace flag bumper stickers, or whatever other physical manifestations of asexuality you might have pictures of!

Submission Instructions:

There are several ways you can submit your blog post for the carnival:

Leave a link to it in the comments below.

Email me at: a c e @ a s e x u a l i t y a r c h i v e . c o m

Send an ask or a message me on Tumblr (@redbeardace)

@AceArchive on Twitter

Postcards or physical letters would be totally awesome and appropriate for this theme, but unfortunately, I don’t plan on giving out my physical address…

Submissions are due by July 31st, 2017.

I’ll acknowledge every submission I get, so if you send something in and don’t hear from me within a couple of days, please try again with a different method.

(If you want to write for this month’s carnival and don’t have a blog of your own to post it on, contact me above, and I’ll be happy to help guest host your post.)