Birmingham mathematician publishes article on best practice for LGBTQ+ data for inclusion in STEM

We are delighted to report that Tyler Kelly, Professor of Pure Mathematics in the School and co-chairof LGBTQ+ STEM, has just had a letter published in Nature. Co-authored with Alex Bond, Principal Curator of Birds at the Natual History Museum, they have created a resource for how to curate data that is LGBTQ+-inclusive for professional organisations with respect to gender, sexual identity, trans identity and pronouns.

This guidance provides form questions and cautions against approaches that lead to erasure of various queer and trans identities. For example, in the article, they advise not using perceived gender or machine learning gender from names, as it often erases and unaffirms the genders of non-binary or trans people, leading to inaccurate data. It also provides methods to give respondents full agency in the type of gender and sexual identity information they give, explaining the pitfalls the questions avoid. Their resource is open-access and available here. We are proud of the contributions of the School of Maths that support all LGBTQ+ people in their engagements with STEM.