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Queer Data: When Being Counted Becomes Dangerous

OUTCAST WORLD

Thursday, 5 February 2026 - 27 minutes

We’re joined by Kevin Guyan — one of the UK’s most compelling thinkers on queer life, power and systems. Kevin is a leading academic at the University of Edinburgh and the author of Queer Data and The Rainbow Trap, two books that have become essential reading on how LGBTQ+ lives are shaped, sorted and managed by institutions.It’s about data. Not as numbers, but as power.Kevin asks the question most of us never think to ask until it’s too late: what actually happens when queer people are counted? Because being counted doesn’t automatically mean being protected. Sometimes it means being exposed.We unpack the seductive promise of visibility — the idea that if the state knows we exist, we’ll be safer. Kevin explains why data is never neutral. Every statistic hides decisions about who felt safe enough to answer, who stayed silent, who was answered for, and who disappeared entirely. Once those numbers exist, they travel — into headlines, policy, algorithms and systems far beyond our control.Using the UK census as a starting point, Kevin shows how queer communities globally are trapped in a brutal bind: counted badly, our numbers are weaponised; not counted at all, our existence can be denied. Either way, data doesn’t just describe us — it acts on us.The conversation darkens as we look at history and the future. Data collected in one political moment doesn’t vanish when politics change. It waits.We also explore the algorithmic systems already deciding who you are without asking — sexuality inferred from clicks, gender guessed from behaviour, profiles built silently while you scroll.What happens when the system knows who you are — and you can’t take it back?---THIS IS OUTCAST WORLD ---Like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a review. This helps us become easier to discover. Please take time to rate the show and if you're enjoying the podcast then take time to comment about it wherever you listen. //////// Check us on Insta, and TikTok @thisisoutcastworld ///// Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.