AJ Freno

AJ is a social worker, educator, and advocate for LGBTQIA+ liberation and justice. AJ has worked in leadership for nonprofit organizations including HiTOPS, the National Transgender Leadership Council, and VentureOutNJ, where they designed and led social and educational programming. AJ earned their Doctorate and Master of Social Work degrees from Rutgers University, where they continue to teach and design graduate courses. AJ has conducted research focused on improving support for LGBTQ+ youth and their families, increasing education around LGBTQIA+ sexual health and gender-affirming care, and improving mental health support for non-monogamous people.

All About Sex Ed: Pleasure-Informed Sex Education for Queer & Trans Youth

In traditional sex ed classes, queer and trans kids are lucky if people like them are mentioned at all. What about from their families? When parents or caregivers gave you "the talk", there's a pretty good chance they told you about how babies are made and left it there. They almost certainly weren't discussing things like poppers or bottom growth. That leaves online as one of the only places LGBTQ+ youth can go to learn about sex. But porn and fanfic aren't realistic, and when those are the only places LGBTQ+ young people can see people like them depicted engaging in sexual activity, they get the wrong idea about what sex and relationships should be like. That leaves us here, at All About Sex Ed — a place designed for queer and trans youth to learn about everything they need to know about identity, sex, love, bodies, puberty, pleasure, relationships, and more, so they can keep themselves, their partners, and their community safe and happy. Because we take care of each other.

Named one of 2025's 49 Most Influential LGBTQ+ Leaders by the Philadelphia Gay News

Selected Presentations:

Freno, A. (2026). Talking About Sex with LGBTQ+ Clients. [Webinar]. Pride Month Webinar Series, New Jersey Counseling Association and LGBTQIA+ Health NJ.
Freno, A. (2026). Pleasure-Informed Comprehensive Sex Ed for Youth of All Identities. [Conference session]. Thrive Sex Ed Conference, New Brunswick, NJ.
Freno, A. (2026). Advancing Affirming Practice with LGBTQ+ Clients. [Keynote]. Monmouth University Greta Singer Lecture Series, Monmouth, NJ, United States.
Freno, A. (2025). Beyond Couples Therapy. [Conference session]. LGBTQ+ Research Symposium, Virtual, United States.
Freno, A. (2025). The Birds and the…Birds? Talking About Sex with LGBTQ+ Youth [Conference session]. True Colors SOGIEcon, Storrs, CT, United States.
Freno, A. (2025). TransParenting: Empowering Parents into Advocacy for their Transgender+ Child [Conference session]. True Colors SOGIEcon, Storrs, CT, United States.
Freno, A. and Foley, T. (2024). Exploring the messages we receive around sexuality and gender [Conference session]. National Sex Ed Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States.