LGBTQA Center to celebrate Asexual Awareness Week, host acclaimed transgender rights advocate

Dorian Rhea DeBussy is the founder of the Ace and Aro Alliance of Central Ohio and director of external affairs at Equitas Health.

Wright State University’s LGBTQA Center will host Dorian Rhea DeBussy, Ph.D., founder of the Ace and Aro Alliance of Central Ohio and inaugural director of external affairs at Equitas Health, during its Asexual Awareness Week activities and programming.

The event will take place Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 6 p.m. in 019 Student Union on the Dayton Campus.

DeBussy will speak with students about understanding the asexual spectrum of identities, debunk myths about the community and give tips on how to create more inclusive spaces.

“The LGBTQA Center is honored to host Dr. DeBussy and provide an invaluable opportunity for our campus to learn more about the asexuality spectrum and community,” said Emily Yantis-Houser, Ph.D., assistant director of the LGBTQA Center. “We look forward to learning more about how to support students, faculty and staff within the community and how to create more inclusive spaces across campus.”

Equitas Health is a federally designated community health center and one of the largest LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS serving health care organizations in the country. The Ace and Aro Alliance of Central Ohio is the state’s first organization focused on serving the asexual and aromantic community.

Prior to joining Equitas Health in 2022, DeBussy enjoyed a decade of service in higher education, which began in public university settings in Connecticut. DeBussy is a part-time lecturer in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at The Ohio State University at Newark.

She has also jointly served as the associate director of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, specializing in fostering LGBTQ+ inclusion and equity, and as a visiting assistant professor of women’s and gender studies at Kenyon College.

As a nationally recognized advocate for trans-inclusive athletic spaces, DeBussy was selected for the inaugural cohort of the NCAA’s Division III LGBTQ OneTeam Program, which is the organization’s first nationwide LGBTQ+ inclusion program. For nearly three years, she facilitated training sessions for hundreds of coaches, athletics administrators, diversity, equity and inclusion professionals, other facilitators and student-athletes across multiple colleges and states. In 2022, she resigned in protest following changes to the NCAA’s transgender participation policy.

As a scholar of LGBTQ+ politics and policy, DeBussy regularly presents at regional, national and international LGBTQ+ conferences.

In 2020, DeBussy presented at the Equitas Health Institute’s Transforming Care Conference, where she was recognized with the Community Advocate Award. DeBussy, who is a member of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, also presented at its 26th annual Scientific Symposium, which is the world’s largest conference on transgender health. More recently, she presented an advocacy workshop at Stonewall Sports’ eighth annual National Tournament and Summit, one of the largest LGBTQ+ athletic events in the country.

For more information about this event and other LGBTQA Center programming email emily.yantis@wright.edu.