Asexuality finding a place in Pride: ‘It’s OK to not be attracted to other people’

‘If we don’t shout out, people are going to grow up thinking that they’re broken’: Elyse McKenzie has been running the asexual float at Sydney Mardi Gras for six years. Photograph: Elyse McKenzie

Growing up in Melbourne, Michael Egan never felt sexual attraction to others, while a nude picture or a sex scene in a movie left him cold. He was relieved to discover the term “asexual” while at university.

“It dramatically improved my relationships,” he says. “I had a better understanding of myself and was better able to communicate my preferences, expectations and boundaries and all those lovely things.”