Making Tomorrow Count: The Future of Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data

But decisions made about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data – how data are collected, analysed and used – are extremely contested. There is no need to be indirect about the current situation: around the world, these data are under attack.

From top-down efforts to delete federal datasets in the USA because they recognise the existence of LGBTQ communities, through to trans-exclusionary campaigns to embed a ‘biology-first’ approach to all sex and gender data initiatives in the UK, decisions about data have material, real-world impacts.

The Futures of SOGI Data Forum (27 January) is a global gathering of policymakers, community groups and researchers engaged in gender, sex, and sexuality data – coming together to learn from shared challenges, reflect on what’s working, and strategise for the year ahead.

The data fight back

We do not need to shy away from the many challenges facing the data community – as we navigate arguably the biggest threats to LGBTQ and women’s equalities and human rights in recent decades.

But we hope that the Forum helps push data conversations in directions that move beyond the reactive. 2025 witnessed the roll-out of many data-related actions that previously seemed unimaginable, and it makes sense why (for many of us) the year was mainly focused on taking stock, reacting to emergencies where we could, and trying to hold ground. But we cannot fight back from a reactive position.

Building a community

Doing data work can be lonely. Whether you’re a graduate student spending long hours reviewing spreadsheets or an activist trying to digest mountains of studies, working in isolation can sometimes make it hard to see how your efforts fit into the bigger picture.

One of our ambitions for the Forum is to foster a collective sense of community – a vehicle to galvanise the multiple and diverse SOGI data initiatives taking place across the UK, USA and around the world.

Building on the Futures of SOGI Data Forum, we also wish to signpost recommended readings, resources and activities. We will invite ideas from attendees during the Forum, to make connections for continued learning and action.

Whether you are brand new to the topic of SOGI data or an international expert working in this field, we hope the materials shared below provide on-ramps and launch points for a new year filled with SOGI data research, practice and activism. This roundup gathers some important touchstones to read across the domains of recent research, policy and advocacy work from the SOGI data world.

Resources

• For a primer on what happened to SOGI data in response to executive orders in the US, read this Brief from the Williams Institute, UCLA.

• New organising efforts have arisen to try to archive and save data before it’s purged, for example check out the Data Rescue Project.

• Other US-based efforts include building long-term archives, suing to compel the release of censored data, and fighting to save data infrastructure and make publics aware of what is at risk.

• Our guest speakers share their work related to SOGI data, such as the monitoring of LGBTQ hate crime in the UK, learn more about the work of Galop.

• Keep updated on the activities of the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) and their response to ‘disappearing data’.

• This article from NPR also highlights specific developments related to SOGI data in the USA.

• If you’re interested in exploring the productive potential of infusing quantitative work with feminist methods, follow the work of FemQuant and join the group’s mailing list.

• Find out more about grassroots efforts, such as gathering new data through crowdsourcing, discussed in Anne Fausto-Sterling’s blog post.

• Learn more about the Gender Census and read the 2025 report.

• Read Kevin Guyan’s new article on Trans-exclusionary data activism in the UK.

Dr Kevin Guyan is Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh Business School.

Dr Jamie Budnick is Assistant Professor in Sociology at Cornell.