At the same moment in U.S. history that The Supreme Court established and elaborated upon the right to privacy, patrons of the Stonewall Inn launched a historic rebellion against violent, repetitious transgressions against this very right. While we are decades away from many of these pivotal events in LGBTQ+ history, our present moment sees mounting public and political opposition to the rights and dignities of LGBTQ+ individuals. 

The digital world is an emergent and significant front for privacy rights. Sensitive user data, including sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data, has the potential to be a major source of privacy risk for the LGBTQ+ community. The landscape has changed, but the stakes of exposure are the same: outing, harassment, discrimination, and violence.

Handling LGBTQ+ data with care

One organization recognized these risks and took action. Capital Pride Alliance is a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, D.C. They’re the hosts of the District’s best and biggest pride celebrations – during Pride Month and year-round. 

What you might not be able to tell from the parades and parties is that Capital Pride Alliance has one of the strongest data privacy programs on the market. We know, because we helped build it.

The Capital Pride Alliance team recognized the importance of protecting the data they collected from their users. A user’s activity on the site, like page visits or event registration, could give rise to direct and indirect inferences about their sexual orientation and gender identity. Authenticated users can voluntarily disclose their pronouns and gender identity alongside their birthday and employer.

In the current social and political climate, this is highly sensitive data – and Capital Pride Alliance took responsibility and took action to protect the individuals this data represents.

While we reflect on the relevance and legacy of privacy this Pride Month, we want to take a moment to celebrate the work that Capital Pride Alliance has done to secure sensitive data and enable their users to exercise their privacy rights. 

And, because we’re privacy people here at Integrative Privacy, we’re going to do that by walking you through our favorite features of their privacy center – and why they actually matter.

Welcome to the privacy center.

Capital Pride Alliance hosts a custom privacy center on Transcend, a top-of-the-line privacy platform and one of Integrative Privacy’s preferred partners. Here, users can review Capital Pride Alliance’s privacy policy, make a privacy request, and learn about Capital Pride Alliance’s privacy principles. 

What users don’t see is the full-scale consent management system and automated data subject request (DSR) platform that Integrative Privacy implemented in Transcend. This privacy center, and what’s under the hood, demonstrates a greater level of commitment to accessible, actionable privacy than what many organizations offer.

A privacy policy you can actually read.

Clocking in at around 2,000 words, Capital Pride Alliance’s privacy policy is significantly shorter than the U.S. average of 6,938 words. It’s easily navigable, with a convenient chapter menu in the left sidebar. For the readability nerds, it’s a 49.6 of the Flesch Reading Ease score, which is right on par, if not better than other privacy policies.

Integrative Privacy was responsible for scoping, formatting, and publishing all required privacy policies to comply with the highest standards of privacy regulation in the U.S. We also conducted full testing on the Privacy Center to ensure accurate language settings, policy display, and external linking.

Accessibility is a huge issue with privacy policies. Brevity and clarity are key components of transparency – there’s nothing buried where no one can see it. This policy balances compliance with user experience to ensure that anyone who’s interested can get the information they’re looking for. 

A cookie banner that actually works.

Consent management is a critical component of data privacy. It allows users to give or revoke consent for what the data gathered from their sessions can be used for. 

We performed a scan of all cookies and data flows across Capital Pride Alliance’s domains and categorized them as essential, analytics, advertising, and sale of information. With that – and with the adorable banner customizations – users can select the purpose for which their data is used. After configuring regional experiences and categorizing the cookies, we were able to boost site regulation and consistency. 

The benefit is mutual – Capital Pride Alliance can verify their compliance with confidence, and their users can trust that their consent preferences will be honored.

A DSR system that gives users control.

Capital Pride Alliance’s automated DSR system allows the organization to intake, verify, and track data subject access requests. Users can exercise their CCPA-endowed rights to access, correct, and erase data that the organization holds – and they can manage communication and sale of information preferences in the same portal. 

This system goes well beyond the legal obligations for a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization like Capital Pride Alliance, which demonstrates their commitment to respecting users’ privacy rights.

Implementing a DSR system is a challenge, even for enterprise-level organizations. Transcend’s automated system requires little manual intervention from Capital Pride Alliance’s operations team. Not only that, it features a custom workflow for Capital Pride Alliance employees and volunteers, a feature that Integrative Privacy was proud to build for the team that drives Capital Pride Alliance.

Capitalizing on a privacy alliance

It takes foresight, collaboration, expertise, and compassion to follow through on the promise of privacy. Capital Pride Alliance went above and beyond this promise by embarking on this shared effort between our three teams to create a privacy system that works for them and works for their people. 

At Integrative Privacy, we understand the “right to privacy” as analogous to the right of self-expression, self-determination, and community engagement. It’s the right to be who you are and, oftentimes, be left alone.

The times when our rights are challenged are the times when these protections are more valuable than ever. This month, we honor those who have fought for our right to privacy and celebrate those, like Capital Pride Alliance, who continue the fight into the future.