Constructing a queer population? Asking about sexual orientation in Scotland’s 2022 census

Abstract

ABSTRACT For the first time, Scotland’s 2022 census will ask a question about sexual orientation. Correspondence between National Records of Scotland, the Scottish Parliament’s Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee and campaign groups present insights into decisions made, the uneasy relationship between queer identities and state data collection practices, and the question of who is counted when we count LGBTQ people. Building on Foucault’s critique of projects that construct population knowledge, the census is framed primarily as a tool to facilitate the state’s capacity to govern. My engagement in the design process enabled me to critically examine decisions made about the exclusion of non-binary identities and the use of predictive text technology. These decisions demonstrate how the design process constructed a queer population that ‘made sense’ to the heteronormative majority and ‘designed-out’ queer lives that the state did not wish to bring into being.