Queer Austin is a volunteer-run guide to LGBTQ+ life in Austin. This page covers what the site collects and what happens to it.
Updated 4 September 2026.
The short version
- Forms store what you type. Analytics counts pages, not people.
- Nothing is sold, shared, or used for advertising.
- Sending a form subscribes you to nothing.
- We never ask for your orientation, gender identity, health, or immigration status.
- Ask us to delete what you sent and we will.
Why the site collects so little
Texas has spent several legislative sessions passing laws aimed at LGBTQ+ people. A guide for that community keeps records that could interest someone other than its readers.
So the site holds as little as it can. Forms ask only what is needed to reply, and no website can promise to refuse a lawful order for its records.
Keep anything out of a form that would put you at risk if another person read it.
Forms
Submissions live in the site’s own database. They do not go to a marketing platform.
Contact form. Name, email, message. Hidden fields record the referring page and any campaign tags in the link you clicked, which shows whether people arrive from search, social, or another site.
Suggest a business or correction. Your name and email, plus what you are reporting: the business, its address and contact details, and what you can confirm about how it treats LGBTQ+ customers. We quote you only if you agree to it on the form.
Community Circles. A third form is planned. It will ask for a name, an email, an area, and what someone hopes to find. It will not ask for a phone number.
Spam checks. Both live forms carry a local question and a captcha. Submissions pass through Akismet, run by Automattic, which receives the content and the sending IP address to score it.
How long entries stay
Long enough to reply and to trace where a listing or correction came from. Inquiries that go nowhere are deleted after twelve months. Ask sooner and yours goes sooner.
Analytics
Google Tag Manager loads Google Analytics, which records pages viewed, approximate region, device, browser, and referring site. Google sets cookies to do it.
Those numbers tell us which guides get used. No profiles, no advertising, no remarketing. Browser tracking protection and Google’s own opt-out add-on both stop the collection.
Google Search Console reports which searches reached the site, in totals only.
Logs and security
The server records requests, including IP addresses. WP Cerber and WP fail2ban read those logs to block brute-force logins and abusive traffic. Cloudflare does the same before requests reach the server.
These records keep the site online. They are not used to follow readers around it.
The business directory
Businesses list themselves, and everything submitted for a listing gets published. Ask and we will remove a listing.
Cookies
Google Analytics sets them. WordPress sets one only for logged-in editors. Embedded video or maps set their own once you interact with them, the same as visiting those sites directly.
Comments
Not enabled, and none stored.
What does not happen
- No selling, renting, or trading your information.
- No mailing list because you used a form.
- No publishing your name or email without asking first.
- No questions about orientation, gender identity, HIV status, medical history, or immigration status.
Your choices
Ask through the contact form and we will tell you what the site holds about you, correct it, or delete it. There is no account and no subscription.
Texas gives residents no general deletion right against a small non-commercial site, so this is a promise rather than a legal obligation.
Changes
If what the site collects changes, this page changes and the date at the top moves. Significant changes get stated here rather than edited in quietly.
Written by the people who run the site. Not legal advice.