Privacy Policy

Introduction

Gaytherings ("we," "us," or "our") is operated by Gatherings LLC. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information when you visit our website at gaytherings.com (the "Platform"), use our services, or interact with us.

We are deeply committed to protecting the privacy of the LGBTQ+ community. We understand that information about your interests, event attendance, and community engagement can be sensitive, and we treat it with the highest level of care.

Information We Collect

Information You Provide Directly

• Account information: When you create an organizer account, we collect your name, email address, and optionally your profile photo, organization name, website, and social media handles.
• Event submissions: Event title, description, date, time, location, venue, ticket links, poster images, and organizer details.
• Communications: When you contact us via email at info@gaytherings.com, we retain your message and contact information to respond to your inquiry.
• Feedback and reports: Any information you submit through feedback forms or event reports.

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data: Pages viewed, events clicked, search queries, filter selections (city, community, category), and time spent on pages.
• Device information: Browser type, operating system, screen resolution, and device type (mobile/desktop).
• Location preferences: Your selected city preference (stored as a cookie), not your real-time GPS location.
• Referral data: How you arrived at our platform (search engine, social media, direct link).

Information We Do NOT Collect

• We do NOT collect real-time GPS or precise geolocation data.
• We do NOT use facial recognition technology.
• We do NOT collect biometric data.
• We do NOT track your activity across other websites.
• We do NOT use Facebook Pixel, Google Ads tracking, or similar advertising trackers.

How We Use Your Information

• Platform operation: To display events, manage organizer accounts, and provide search and discovery features.
• Event curation: To review, verify, and categorize events to ensure quality and relevance to the LGBTQ+ community.
• Communications: To notify organizers about their event submission status (approved, rejected, or requiring changes).
• Platform improvement: To understand usage patterns and improve our event discovery algorithms, search functionality, and user experience.
• Safety and moderation: To detect and prevent fraudulent, harmful, or inappropriate content.
• Legal compliance: To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal requests.

LGBTQ+ Community Privacy Protections

We recognize that LGBTQ+ identity information is particularly sensitive. We implement the following protections:

• Identity protection: We never share your sexual orientation, gender identity, or community preferences with third parties for advertising, marketing, or profiling purposes.
• No data broker sharing: Your browsing activity, event interests, and community preferences are never sold to or shared with data brokers.
• Minimal data collection: We only collect data necessary to provide our services. We do not build behavioral profiles for advertising.
• Safe browsing: We do not display personalized ads based on your LGBTQ+ interests. Event recommendations are based solely on your explicitly selected city and community preferences.
• Anonymized analytics: Our internal analytics use anonymized, aggregated data that cannot be traced back to individual users.
• No outing risk: We design our platform so that casual observers (e.g., someone looking at your browser history) would see generic event listings, not identity-specific content.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal information. We may share data in these limited circumstances:

• Service providers: We use Supabase (database), Clerk (authentication), Netlify (hosting), ImgBB (image hosting), and Brave Search (event discovery). These providers process data on our behalf under strict contractual obligations.
• Public event data: Event details submitted by organizers (title, date, venue, description, poster) are publicly displayed on the Platform. Organizer profile names are also publicly visible.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, court order, or to protect the safety of our users or the public.
• Business transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, user data may be transferred. We will notify you of any such change.

Data Retention

• Event data: Published events remain on the platform indefinitely to maintain a historical record. Past events are no longer displayed in search results but remain accessible via direct URL.
• Organizer accounts: Account data is retained for as long as your account is active. You may request deletion at any time.
• Analytics data: Aggregated, anonymized analytics data is retained indefinitely. Individual session data is not stored.
• Communications: Emails and support messages are retained for up to 2 years.

Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures including:

• Encryption in transit (TLS/HTTPS) for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers.
• Encryption at rest for sensitive data stored in our database.
• Role-based access controls limiting employee access to personal data.
• Regular security reviews of our infrastructure and code.
• Secure authentication via Clerk with support for multi-factor authentication.

No system is 100% secure. If you become aware of a security issue, please contact us immediately at info@gaytherings.com.

Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal data (subject to legal retention requirements).
• Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Opt-out: Opt out of marketing communications at any time.
• Restriction: Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@gaytherings.com. We will respond within 30 days.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose.
• Right to delete your personal information.
• Right to opt out of the sale of your personal information (we do not sell personal information).
• Right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights.
• Right to limit the use of sensitive personal information.

International Users

Gaytherings is operated from the United States. If you access the Platform from outside the US, your information may be transferred to and processed in the US. By using the Platform, you consent to this transfer.

Children's Privacy

Gaytherings is not intended for users under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If we learn we have collected data from a child under 18, we will delete it promptly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated policy on this page with a new "Effective Date." Your continued use of the Platform after changes constitutes acceptance.

Contact Us

For privacy questions, data requests, or concerns:

Gatherings LLC
Email: info@gaytherings.com