Trans-exclusionary data activism in the UK

Abstract

In the UK, the design and management of sex and gender categories in data–including census questions, police and health records, and digital ID–has become a key focus of trans-exclusionary activism since the late 2010s. Following the 2025 Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland v. The Scottish Ministers, ‘sex’ in the 2010 Equality Act is now understood as exclusively biological and assigned at birth, reshaping how public bodies collect, analyse and use sex and gender data. Trans people continue to be ‘included’ in data as long as they comply with inclusion criteria at odds with how they identify–a paradox that hinders the pursuit for better sex and gender data. This article situates the positions and tactics of trans-exclusionary data activism in wider discourses where data (or ideas about data) are used to categorize and control minoritized populations. Experiences in the UK show how data can be mobilized to erase communities–and why scholars, practitioners and activists worldwide need to see these administrative battles not as dry technical debates but as central to the future of feminist and LGBTQ liberation.