Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including asexuality as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010.

We have no plans for including asexuality as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010.

The Equality Act 2010 covers discrimination in employment, the provision of goods, services, and public functions, housing, premises, education, transport, occupational pensions, clubs, and associations. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of nine characteristics, including sex and sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is defined under the Act as a person’s orientation towards persons of the opposite sex, the same sex, or of either sex. The Act also prohibits discrimination based on the perception that someone has a protected characteristic, for example, that they are heterosexual, lesbian, or gay when they are not.