Aromantic (Spectrum) Visibility Day Date in the current year: June 5, 2024

To understand what aromanticism is, you need to understand the difference between sexual and romantic orientation. Sexual orientation indicates the gender or genders that a person is sexually attracted to, whereas romantic orientation indicates the gender or genders that a person is romantically attracted to. For many people, their sexual and romantic orientations align, but this is not always the case: it is possible to experience sexual attraction without experiencing romantic interest, and vice versa.

People who identify as aromantic (aro) experience little to no romantic attraction to others. Many aromantic people are also asexual (ace), meaning they experience neither romantic nor sexual attraction, but many are allosexual, i.e. experience sexual attraction. Aromantic asexual people are colloquially known as “aro-ace” or “aroace”, whereas aromantic allosexual people typically state their sexual orientation alongside their romantic orientation, for example, aromantic heterosexual or aromantic bisexual.

Like other romantic and sexual orientations, aromanticism is a spectrum. The aromantic spectrum includes varying identities to describe the degrees and nuances of a lack of romantic attraction, including, but not limited to:

• Aromantic: a general term for people who experience little to no romantic attraction.
• Demiromantic: people who need to form a close non-romantic bond with someone to be able to experience romantic attraction to them.
• Grayromantic: people who experience romantic attraction only weakly, or rarely, or under specific circumstances.
• Apothiromantic: people who experience no romantic attraction and are repulsed by romance.
• Aegoromantic: people who experience no romantic attraction but enjoy depictions of romantic love in the media.
• Aroflux: people whose romantic attraction shifts on the aromantic spectrum.

The first awareness event to recognize and celebrate aromantic spectrum identities was Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week (ASAW). It was first held in November 2014, and was subsequently moved to the week after Valentine’s Day starting in 2015. The campaign is led by the Aromantic-spectrum Union for Recognition, Education, and Advocacy (AUREA).

Aromantic Visibility Day was first observed on June 5, 2023, during the annual Pride Month. It was a grassroots campaign started by a call to action on X (then Twitter) to give visibility and bring acceptance to people on the aromantic spectrum by using the hashtag #AromanticVisibilityDay on various social platforms. To support the initiative, Hello! magazine published a cover interview with English author Alice Oseman, who identifies as aromantic asexual.

Less than three months after Aromantic Visibility Day, the first Aromantic Spectrum Visibility Day (ASVD) was held. It was organized by Aspec*German, a Discord server for people on the asexual, aromantic, and/or aplatonic spectra (mostly from Germany, Austria and Switzerland), and AktivAro, a German organization that provides resources, organizes events, and gives lectures on aromanticism. ASVD is observed annually on August 25.