Queer Data Showcase reclaims data conversation

Current conversations about LGBTQ communities and data tend to focus on exclusion and erasure. Whether it’s questions in a diversity monitoring form, legal rulings on ‘who counts’ as a woman, or the biases and stereotypes that LGBTQ face when navigating tech systems such as generative AI.

The Queer Data Showcase – which took place on 5 June 2025 at the Pleasance, Edinburgh – sought to shift the narrative and put LGBTQ people at the centre of the conversation.

Hosted by Edinburgh drag icon Mystika Glamoor, the Showcase brought together a curated selection of artists, academics and activists working on projects related to ‘queer data’ – in other words data about or for LGBTQ communities.

The Showcase featured seven short contributions from people engaged in a variety of queer-led data projects, including everything from a multimedia jazz improv to queer time machines. Sharing work were Rodrigo Tadeu Guimarães Jales, JT Welsch, Meg Fereday, Jess Parris Westbrook, Zosia Kuczynska, Kim Foale and Katherine Wyers.

There’s a real hunger right now to change the conversation about LGBTQ data. Too often, politicians, courts and data systems tell queer people what box to occupy – we need to lead the design of data systems, not the other way round. We hope the Showcase provided an opportunity to highlight exciting queer-led data projects and for everyone to come together to have some fun with data.

The Showcase was co-organised by the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab, AI Ethics & Society and the charity Pride in STEM.

Recording

Watch a recording of Rodrigo Tadeu Guimarães Jales' contribution to the Queer Data Showcase.