Queer Lives, Data and the Dangers of Inclusion

 When it comes to initiatives to improve mental health and/or wellbeing, the lives and experiences of some LGBTQ communities are now considered. But what did these communities need to give up in order to be included?

 Join author Kevin Guyan to explore ideas from his new book Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Categories and the Dangers of Inclusion – which asks whether our current approach to inclusion, and its use of data and evidence, can ever reflect the full diversity of people’s experiences.

The book examines queer encounters with six different systems – stretching from hate crime reporting to dating apps – and highlights how the promise of inclusion requires LGBTQ people to locate themselves in an ever-growing list of classifications, categories and labels. This requirement to be classified catches LGBTQ communities in a rainbow trap. Because when we look beyond the welcoming veneer of inclusive interventions, we uncover sorting processes that determine what LGBTQ lives are valued and what queer futures are possible.

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 Dr Kevin Guyan is a writer and researcher whose work explores the intersection of data and identity. He is the author of Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025) and Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022). Kevin is a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab.

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This event is run by the Queer Minds Scotland Network (funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh) but we welcome attendees based all across the globe. This workshop is open to anyone interested in the topics including community members, practitioners, policy makers, students and researchers.

A note on safety and inclusion: Queer Minds Scotland is a fully inclusive network and space of all LGBTQIA+ communities. We therefore take a zero tolerance approach to any discrimination that compromises the safety of the space i.e. transphobia, racism, ableism - and reserve the right to remove participants who may express such views. 

Joining instructions for Zoom will be sent on the morning of the event.