barker's activism in the area of lgbt&q rights has been recognized by placement in the top 40 of the independent on sunday newspaper's pink list, and rainbow list. barker was one of the founder members of biuk, the organization for bisexual research and activism. this group wrote the international guidelines for academics studying bisexuality (published in journal of bisexuality) and produced "the bisexuality report" which informs uk policy and practice regarding bisexuality based on the evidence regarding biphobia, bisexual invisibility, and mental health in 2013, barker took home an erotic award in the academic category for the book rewriting the rules, as reported in times higher education. their current activism focuses on trans and non-binary communities.