TransFamilies.org cares deeply about the privacy of our members. This policy explains our privacy practices for TransFamilies.org (referred to here as the “Site”).
1. Highlights
2. Information Collected or Received
3. Choice & Control
4. Messages from Trans Families
5. Community
6. Information Uses, Sharing, & Disclosure
7. Data Transfers
8. Legitimate Interests
9. Security
10. Data Retention
11. Your Rights
12. Withdrawing Consent
13. Privacy Policy Changes
14. Data Collected to Manage Your Membership
15. Contact Trans Families
We need to process your personal data to ensure the safety and privacy of all our participants. By becoming a site member, you are confirming that you have read this policy and consent to us using your information in the ways we describe. If you don’t want us to collect or process your personal information in the ways described in this policy, you shouldn’t join this site. If you are unsure, you may contact us ahead of joining for further clarification.
Trans Families requires all Members to be at least 13 years of age. Children under age 13 are not permitted to join TransFamilies.org. By becoming a Member, you authorize Trans Families to use your information in the United States and any other country where Trans Families operates. Please be aware that the privacy laws and standards in certain countries, including the rights of authorities to access your personal information, may differ from those that apply in the country in which you reside.
This section sets out a few highlights of our Privacy Policy. You can read Trans Families’ full Privacy Policy below.
To join the Site, you must provide a valid email address and complete an intake call with our Trans Families Parent Services staff. During that call, some demographic information about you and your family will be collected. That information will be kept private, in a location separate from the Site. Please note that for security and performance reasons, such content may need to be accessed by certain Trans Families personnel from time to time. At no time will we disclose your private information to other members without your expressed permission.
We may also collect information about your use of the Site for analytics, including your IP address, browser information (including referrers), device information (such as iOS IDFA, IDFV for limited non-advertising purposes, Android AAID, and, when enabled by you, coarse and fine geographical information provided by your device).
The name associated with your Trans Families account is publicly displayed and connected to your Trans Families activity. Therefore, we strongly advise that you use only your first name or pseudonym, and refrain from posting birthdates, personal addresses, or phone numbers. You may, at any time, review and change that name through your account settings. Other members may see the date you joined, and your posts and comments on the site.
We may use technologies such as cookies, clear gifs, and log files for several purposes, including how you interact with the Site, in order to provide an optimal user experience. Trans Families may use cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, and track users’ movements throughout the Site. You can control the use of cookies on your individual browser but, if you choose to disable cookies, it may limit your use of certain features or functions on the Site or through the Services.
We may use information gathered from users in a number of ways including improvement to services, analyzing trends, and to better inform any regional programmatic offerings.
At no time will Trans Families sell or disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent, except as specified within this Privacy Policy.
You may review and change your information in your account settings, and you may remove certain optional pieces of information. You may also control the receipt of certain types of communications from Trans Families within your account settings.
You also may limit certain tracking by disabling cookies in your web browser.
In order to become a member of Transfamilies.org, you must provide us with a valid email address, and complete an intake call with Gender Diversity’s Parent Services. You must also choose a name to be associated with your account that will represent your identity on TransFamilies.org. You may review and change that name through your account settings. You need to provide this information to enable us to provide you with access to Site membership. Information that you provide during the intake call will not be displayed publicly and will only be used internally by Trans Families, unless otherwise specified.
The name associated with your account, which you may review and change in your account settings, is publicly displayed and connected to your Trans Families activity. Other people may see the date you joined, profile information, posts, and comments in community spaces.
Trans Families automatically receives and records information from your browser, or your mobile device, when you visit the Site. This information includes items such as your IP address or unique device identifier, cookies and data about which pages you visit in order to allow us to operate and provide services.
This information is collected automatically and stored in log files. We may combine this information from your browser (including any additional devices you may utilize) with other information that we or our partners collect about you. This information is used to prevent fraud and to keep the Site secure, to analyze and understand how the Site works for members and visitors, and to provide a more personalized experience for members and visitors.
Trans Families may receive or obtain information (for example, an email address or IP address) about a person who is not yet a registered Trans Families member (a “non-member”) in connection with certain Trans Families features, such as when a non-member chooses to subscribe to an Trans Families newsletter, a member invites a non-member to visit the Site. Non-member information is used only for the purposes disclosed when it was submitted to Trans Families or to facilitate action authorized by the non-member. A non-member can contact Trans Families Support if they do not want Trans Families to retain their information.
We also collect certain information from both members and non-members who visit websites hosted by us. This information may include your IP address or unique device identifier, and cookies and data from the pages you visit.
You may change or correct your Trans Families account information through your account settings. You may also remove certain optional information that you no longer wish to be publicly visible on the Site.
Trans Families may send you messages about services or your activity. Some of these messages are required, service-related messages for members. Other messages are not required, such as newsletters. You can control which optional messages you choose to receive by changing your account settings, and you can learn more in the “Messages from Trans Families” section of this policy.
If you no longer wish to use the Site or receive service-related messages, then you may close your account.
On occasion, Trans Families may need to contact you. Primarily, these messages are delivered by email or by push notifications, and every account is required to keep a valid email address on file to receive messages. Trans Families may need to contact you by telephone to if you request member support and/or for intake purposes. Additionally, and with your consent, Trans Families may send you an SMS (or similar) message or physical mail in order to provide you with customer support or to provide you with information about events and features that you may find of interest. You may update your contact preferences in your account settings.
Some messages from Trans Families are service-related and necessary for members and non-member users. You agree that Trans Families can send you non-marketing emails or messages, such as those related to your account, site activity, security, or site changes. Examples of service-related messages include an email address confirmation/welcome email when you register your account, notification of a post reply, modification of key features or functions, and correspondence with Trans Families’ support team.
When you register for an account, or provide us with your email address or phone number such as for an intake call or to subscribe to a newsletter, you agree to receive marketing emails and messages from us. You can unsubscribe at any time from marketing emails through the opt-out link included in marketing emails or messages.
TransFamilies.org is a membership community. We offer features that allow members to connect and communicate, such as Discussion Forums and Online Support Groups. You don’t have to use these features, but if you do, please use common sense and good judgment when participating in these community spaces and/or sharing your personal information with others. Be aware that any personal information that you choose to submit there can be read, collected, or used by others, or could be used to send unsolicited messages to you. Trans Families generally does not remove content from community spaces, and your posts may remain after your account is closed. You are responsible for the personal information that you choose to post in community spaces.
We respect your privacy. Trans Families will not disclose your name, email address or other personal information to third parties without your consent, except as specified in this policy. We rely on three separate and overlapping bases to process your personal information lawfully. First, it’s necessary for us to process your personal information in certain ways in order to ensure the validity of your participation on the Site. Second, where you have given us valid consent to use your data in certain ways, we will rely on your consent. Third, as described in more detail below in the section titled “Legitimate Interests”, in certain cases we may process your information where necessary to further Trans Families’ legitimate interests, where those legitimate interests are not overridden by your rights or interests.
We use your information to provide and improve the Site and our offerings, for billing and payments, for identification and authentication, for targeted online and offline marketing, to contact members or interested parties, and for general research and aggregate reporting.
Trans Families may release your personal information to a third party in the following limited circumstances: in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet legitimate national security or law enforcement requirements; to protect, establish, or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims, including to collect a debt; to comply with a subpoena, court order, legal process, or other legal requirement; or when we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to comply with the law, prevent imminent physical harm or financial loss, or investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, or threats to our property..
Trans Families may share demographic information with business partners, but it will always be aggregated and de-personalized, so that personally-identifiable information is not revealed.
Trans Families needs to engage third-party companies and individuals (such as meeting sites, and analytics and security providers) to help us operate and provide services. These third parties have only limited access to your information, may use your information only to perform these tasks on our behalf, and are obligated to Trans Families not to disclose or use your information for other purposes.
Necessary for the performance of the contract between Trans Families and its members
Trans Families is a voluntary service; you can choose whether or not you want to use the Site. As we may operate in countries worldwide (including in the US) and use technical infrastructure in the US to deliver the Site to you, in accordance with the contract between us, we need to transfer your personal information to the US and to other jurisdictions as necessary.
When signing up to use the Site, you must consent to the transfer of your personal data abroad, including to the US and other jurisdictions, to provide you with the Services and generally to process your information in accordance with this policy.
Trans Families relies on several legitimate interests in using and sharing your personal information. These interests include:
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and after it is received. Your account information is protected by a password. It is important that you protect against unauthorized access to your account and information by choosing your password carefully and by keeping your password and computer secure, such as ensuring proper sign out after Site usage.
Trans Families encrypts certain information (such as credit card numbers) using secure socket layer technology (SSL). Trans Families follows generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and after it is received. Unfortunately, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Trans Families will retain your information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, for as long as your account is active (i.e., for the lifetime of your Trans Families membership account), or as needed to provide services to you. If you no longer want Trans Families to use your information to provide the Site to you, you may close your account. Trans Families will retain and use your information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your information to comply with applicable tax/revenue laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Please note that closing your account may not free up your email address, or username for reuse on a new account. We also retain log files for internal analysis purposes. These log files are generally retained for a brief period of time, except in cases where they are used for site safety and security, to improve site functionality, or we are legally obligated to retain them for longer time periods.
If you would like to manage, change, limit, or delete your personal information, you can do so via your Trans Families account settings or by contacting us. Upon request, Trans Families will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your personal information. By visiting your account settings, you can access, correct, change, and delete certain personal information associated with your account. In certain cases where we process your information, you may also have a right to restrict or limit the ways in which we use your personal information. In certain circumstances, you also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information, to request the deletion of your personal information, and to obtain a copy of your personal information in an easily accessible format. If you need further assistance, you can contact Trans Families through one of the channels listed below under “Contact Trans Families.” We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
You have the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your information and your use of the Site. You can do this at any time by closing your account through your account settings and then emailing info@TransFamilies.org to request that your personal information be deleted.
If you withdraw your consent to the use or sharing of your personal information for the purposes set out in this policy, you may not have access to all (or any) of the Site, and we might not be able to provide you all (or any) of our services. Please note that, in certain cases, we may continue to process your information after you have withdrawn consent and requested that we delete your information, if we have a legal basis to do so. For example, we may retain certain information if we need to do so to comply with an independent legal obligation, or if it is necessary to do so to pursue our legitimate interest in keeping the Site safe and secure.
We may amend or update this policy from time to time. If we believe that the changes are material, we’ll let you know by doing one (or more) of the following: (1) posting the changes on or through the Site, (2) or sending you an email or message about the changes. Changes will be effective upon the posting of the changes, and your acceptance of the changes, which may be through continued use of the Services after the changes take effect.
At checkout, we will collect your name, email address, username, and password. This information is used to setup your account for our site. If you are redirected to an offsite payment gateway to complete your payment, we may store this information in a temporary session variable to setup your account when you return to our site.
At checkout, we may also collect your billing address and phone number. This information is used to confirm your credit card. The billing address and phone number are saved by our site to prepopulate the checkout form for future purchases and so we can get in touch with you if needed to discuss your order.
At checkout, we may also collect your credit card number, expiration date, and security code. This information is passed to our payment gateway to process your purchase. The last 4 digits of your credit card number and the expiration date are saved by our site to use for reference and to send you an email if your credit card will expire before the next recurring payment.
When logged in, we use cookies to track some of your activity on our site including logins, visits, and page views.
If you have questions or suggestions about personal information you can contact Trans Families’ Support team by sending an email to info@TransFamilies.org, or by writing to us at the following address:
Last updated on July 19, 2018