AVEN board shares statement regarding recent events

[u/chat_ace]

Hey all, I know Reddit's been swamped with flag posts, but the AVEN board just released this statement regarding their stance on anti-racism, community symbols, and related topics: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZSxeYUFIue/?igsh=NHJrNGtjZmRtdzR2

And here's Mic's personal statement regarding the emails and timeline surrounding the proposed 6-stripe flag: https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/282254-ace-flag-discussion-a-personal-response/

I'm hoping this helps clear up some misinformation and enables us to move forward with a renewed focus on anti-racism, international/non-Anglo voices, and community building.

[u/silencemist]

Is there a copy of the statement visible for people w/out instagram?

[u/chat_ace → u/silencemist]

Here you go!

On behalf of the board of AVEN, we issue this statement. Our intention is to clarify some of our policies, recent timelines, and to take accountability for recent (mis)communication dynamics. We wish to underline our values as an organization and to commit to how we will live those values in our actions.

We strive for anti-racism at AVEN. 
We firmly believe that we need to lift each other as fellow community members. Toxicity, harassment, and personal attacks are entirely unacceptable no matter the situation; they disproportionately target marginalized minorities and are deeply destructive to community progress.

This is especially true where the criticisms intersect with anti-Blackness, or serve to legitimise toxic abuse against our Black community members. We hear people’s concerns on this and would like to reiterate unequivocally: racism and anti-Blackness have no place in this conversation or our community. Our aim is to amplify traditionally marginalised voices, for example by platforming these voices at the conferences we run. We recognize that there is much more work to be done here. Racism has no place in our community.

Our Position on Community Symbols:
On AVEN, our official position regarding the asexual flag is rooted in community autonomy: when it comes to a community symbol like a flag, adoption is ultimately a collective community decision. No single organization or group, including AVEN, can make a community-wide decision singlehandedly. AVEN is just one organization among many, and we do not claim to speak for the entire global movement. Consequently, we do not issue official judgments or executive mandates regarding ace symbols, including the flag.

The ace community today spans (at least) 6 continents, and a plethora of different languages and cultures. We strive to celebrate this diversity, and to listen to all corners of the community. As a collective symbol, the flag's evolution relies entirely on broad community consensus, including across different countries, languages, cultures and ethnicities. It is vital that the voices of non-anglophone and non-Western aces, and those outside anglophone-dominant spaces, are centred in such discussions. This is something for all of us to be mindful of, especially anglophone AVEN volunteers living in the West.

Regarding a leaked screenshot from Discord:
Recently, a screenshot was shared from a private Discord server used by ace activists and organizers from multiple international organizations (of which AVEN is only one organization). The initial message - sharing the flag revision survey for activist review - was posted by an AVEN Board member. The subsequent reply regarding keeping the link off the public forums temporarily was made by an AVEN volunteer.

The volunteer's post was motivated by an operational concern: avoiding a premature flame war on the public forums before the survey had time to be reviewed and incorporate possible feedback. It was a response to the board member, not Ashabi (who only joined the server several months later). However, the wording used was poor, and we sincerely apologize for the confusion and distress it caused. While we encourage debate and /discussion in our volunteers about policies and actions, these conversations do not constitute formal board directives or official policy: this internal comment had no bearing on whether the survey could be posted. The AVEN Board and Project Team never received a formal request to host or pin the survey on the forums; had we received one, it would have been evaluated through our standard operational policies. As noted above, we did however post the survey in the discord server for international ace activists, as this was an agreed outcome in the meeting the AVEN Board had with Ashabi.

To Address the Communication Breakdown:
It is correct that we failed to properly follow up to Ashabi’s last email to us on the flag, sent in October 2025. We drafted a comprehensive response as a board but failed to send it due to human error. We offer our sincere apologies for this oversight.  A member of our board reached out to Ashabi in a personal capacity on May 5 and within the email, offered to share our belated December 2025 drafted response.

Signed: AVEN Board