Say an asexual was homoromantic. Can they be considered gay? Or maybe they are heteroromantic. Can they be considered straight? (Didn't include panromantic and biromantic because the only other name I can think for pansexuality and bisexuality were bi and pan, which is also another name for panromantic and biromantic.) Another rewording of the question is: Does gay mean homosexual? And does straight mean heterosexual?
It depends on what your definition of asexual is. Generally, I'd like to say yes and no. Why? They typically look for relationships without the sex. However, they still may have an attraction towards that one gender, say guys. That could make them homoromantic, asexual.
Where are the people who are voting no? I'm assuming it's because they define gay = homosexual and straight = heterosexual, but I'm not really sure. In any case, thanks for all your votes and replies, guys.
Well, they can't really be heterosexual or homosexual (the most common uses of straight and gay) but they certainly can be romantically attracted to different people, in which case they'd be called homo-, hetero-, bi-, pan-, etc. romantic.
I say yes without hesitation. Sex is sex. If an asexual person is in a romantic relationship with someone of the same sex, the world would see a gay couple (and in this, I'll use what the world sees since we're using the most common usages for our nomenclature). The world's view is that people are sexual, and are (most commonly) straight or gay. I don't generally like to use what three world's sees or says as I prefer to live and let live. Let people define their own loves and lives. So if an asexual person sees theirself as gay, they are. I myself am male - bodied, but identify as more female or feminine, so I see myself as (largely) female in spite of what the world sees. I also am attracted, sexually and romantically, to other females and so I'm also lesbian.
Sure, I mean they can still feel attraction to a certain gender, they just don't want to have sex with them