Rainbow Trap – London Launch
10 July 2025, 6:15 pm–8:15 pm

Join author Kevin Guyan to explore ideas from his hot new book 'Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Categories and the Dangers of Inclusion'
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Organiser
-
qUCL
Location
-
IAS Common GroundG11, ground floor, South WingUCL, Gower St, LondonWC1E 6BTUnited Kingdom
Rainbow Trap reveals how the fight for LGBTQ equalities is shaped – and constrained – by the classifications we encounter every day.
The book examines queer encounters with six different systems – stretching from hate crime reporting to dating apps – and highlights how the promise of inclusion requires LGBTQ people to locate themselves in an ever-growing list of classifications, categories and labels.
This requirement to be classified catches LGBTQ communities in a rainbow trap. Because when we look beyond the welcoming veneer of inclusive interventions, we uncover sorting processes that determine what LGBTQ lives are valued and what queer futures are possible.
Chaired by Harry Nicholas, author of A Trans Man Walks in a Gay Bar. Supported by qUCL and The Common Press.
Please register to attend: https://qucl-rainbow-trap.eventbrite.co.uk
About the Speakers
Dr Kevin Guyan
Dr Kevin Guyan is a writer and researcher whose work explores the intersection of data and identity.
He is the author of Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025) and Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022).
Kevin is a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab.
More about Dr Kevin GuyanHarry Nicholas
Harry Nicholas is a writer, campaigner and gay trans man living in London. He has contributed to articles in The Huffington Post, Forbes, BBC Newsbeat, BBC3's 'Things not to say to a trans person' and Pink News.
A Trans Man Walks in a Gay Bar is his first book.