Elisabeth Perlman

“Heightened data competence can therefore ensure data is used to improve the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people rather than only serve the interests of, what Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein described as, the three S's: science (universities), surveillance (governments), and selling (corporations).”
― Kevin Guyan, Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action

“[T]here exists a long history of political and social struggles over the design of classification systems that present themselves as ‘purely technical’ but promote a biased account of the social world. … Critical race theorists, such as Richard Delgado and Jean Stanfancic, have similarly argued that races operate as ‘categories that society invents, manipulates, or retires when convenient’. Although invented as a category, the effects of race on social relations and people's life opportunities are material and multiple.”
― Kevin Guyan, Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action

“Abby Day’s research on how people answered the question on religion in the 2001 English and Welsh census shines further light on the interplay between identity characteristics and the use of data collection methods. Day describes how interviewees and her study were initially ambivalent about their religious identities. However, when presented with a list of options, this crystallized their identity ‘in a way that seemed to suggest not that they were for example, Christian but -- perhaps more importantly -- that they were not one of the “others.”
― Kevin Guyan, Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action

“Queer data is more than using data to tell stories about the lives and experiences of LGBTQ individuals: the presentation of the data is also an opportunity for LGBTQ people to see themselves reflected, although this mirror image is never a truly accurate representation.”
― Kevin Guyan, Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action