Privacy Policy

Equality Texas and the Equality Texas Foundation (jointly, "Equality Texas") strongly believe in protecting the integrity and privacy of personal information gathered from visitors to our Web sites ("End Users"). Since the protection of your privacy is of the greatest importance to us, we have created this privacy policy to communicate our practices regarding the collection and dissemination of personal information that can be linked to a specific individual, such as a name, address, phone number, e-mail address, or any other information, provided to us by our website visitors.

You do not have to share personally identifiable information to use the Equality Texas web site. Equality Texas does not collect personally identifiable information about people without their permission. However, please be aware that our site links to a limited number of other websites and Equality Texas cannot control, and is not responsible for, the content or the privacy policies of those websites.

How we use the information gathered when you contribute to Equality Texas or use one of our online services:

We gather contact information when you contribute to Equality Texas online or offline, join at Pride or another Equality Texas-sponsored event, or when you sign up to use the Equality Texas Action Center. We use this information to send you legislative updates, action alerts, press releases, information about Equality Texas programs, events and activities, local volunteer opportunities and membership and renewal appeals.

Equality Texas also uses information gathered via the Equality Texas website to improve our web-based services. Equality Texas periodically performs statistical analyses of aggregate user behavior and characteristics in order to measure interest in and use of various areas on our website and to use such information to improve on our website's ability to serve you.

Cookies: Equality Texas uses "cookies" on some Web pages. A cookie is a small piece of data stored on an End User's hard drive but does not itself contain any personal information. Cookies enhance an End User's experience by saving the End User from having to log in or provide information each time he or she revisits an Equality Texas web page and by customizing content based on an End User's interests. An End User can configure his or her browser to be alerted when a site is attempting to send a cookie and refuse the cookie. Equality Texas also tracks End User activity and click-through behavior to provide an End User with a more personalized experience while visiting our web pages and for more personalized e-mail alerts. Equality Texas also uses IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the web site, track End User movement and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.

Disclosure Requirements

The Texas Equity PAC, a sponsored state and local political action committee of Equality Texas, is required to disclose some personal information to state or local government authorities. For example, Texas law requires us to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer of individuals whose contributions aggregate in excess of $500 during any Texas Ethics Commission reporting period.

How you receive e-mails and e-mail newsletters from Equality Texas:

You will only receive e-mail messages from us if you have (a) expressly signed up for an e-mail subscription list on the Equality Texas website or (b) you are a subscriber to our Equality Texas Action Center and/or have been invited to sign up for the online Action Center at Pride or at other Equality Texas-hosted events.

The information we gather from subscribers to our e-mail newsletters (including e-mail addresses) is not shared with other organizations or parties. From time to time, we may send out e-mails on behalf of these like-minded organizations, but we do not provide them with access to any personal information that you have provided.

In order to provide you with better and more relevant information, we compile information about e-mail response and website usage. This information helps us to better understand our members' site usage patterns and also what types of content and information may help improve your user experience on the Equality Texas website.

All e-mails sent contain a link to unsubscribe or to modify your profile. You may subscribe or unsubscribe to any newsletter or e-mail communication from Equality Texas at any time.

How we track HTML newsletters:

We make use of both "open-tracking" and "click-tracking" in our HTML newsletters (i.e. e-mails that contain text and images). Open-tracking allows us to find out how many people have viewed our e-mail newsletters and click-tracking allows us to find out which links in the newsletter were clicked on. This helps us to refine and improve the editorial content of our newsletters, and to provide you with relevant information.

"HTML-sensing" is used to determine if your e-mail client supports HTML-based emails. This is employed only if you request our system to detect whether you can receive HTML emails.

If you have any questions, please email: Info@EqualityTexas.org  

How we protect your information:

Equality Texas is extremely protective of the information gathered through its programs, events, and website. Our website has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control. When you contribute to Equality Texas online, we use a secure server and encryption to protect your financial and other personal information during transmission.

Equality Texas follows the Association of Fundraising Professional's (AFP) Ethical Guidelines to the Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice. Information pertaining to Equality Texas donors and Texas Cabinet members is not, without your permission, released to external entities for the purpose of list exchanges.  

Equality Texas does not specifically ask children under 18 for any information and we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information about them.

How to unsubscribe from mailing lists:

All Equality Texas communication, whether via e-mail or U.S. mail, provides information on how to unsubscribe quickly and easily. Those wishing to opt out of receiving communications from Equality Texas ("do not contact") can simply contact us at Info@EqualityTexas.org  or via phone 512-474-5475, or via U.S. mail at P O Box 2340, Austin, TX 78768-2340.

How to correct information you have provided:

You may correct and/or change any information regarding your membership by contacting us at Info@EqualityTexas.org  or by calling 512-474-5475.

How to contact us about privacy:

If you have any questions about our privacy policy, the information we have collected from you online, the practices of this site or your interaction with this website, send e-mail to: Info@EqualityTexas.org  You can also reach us via U.S. mail at: Equality Texas, P O Box 2340, Austin, TX 78768-2340.

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