Our Methodology

How we decide what goes on the Safe Space Maps

Our maps exist so you can walk into a place already knowing it's safe. That only works if you can trust every single pin. So we hold ourselves to a high standard, and we are picky on purpose. We would rather give you a smaller map that's right than a bigger map that's hopeful.

A wrong restaurant recommendation costs you a mediocre dinner. A wrong safe space recommendation can cost someone a lot more than that. We never forget the difference.

The three-condition rule for trans and nonbinary tags

The tags people count on the most, like trans-safe, trans-friendly, and nonbinary-affirming, are the ones we guard the hardest. A venue gets one of these tags only when at least one of three things is true:

  1. There are publicized reports that explicitly say the venue is trans-affirming. Explicitly. Not implied, not hinted at, not "you can kind of tell."

  2. We can confirm it directly from our own knowledge. That means our own visits, our own conversations with owners and staff, or verified firsthand reports from people in our community.

  3. The venue says so itself, on its own website or in an official company statement. If they're willing to put it in writing, we're willing to put it on the map.

If none of those three things is true, the tag stays off. No exceptions, no guessing, no "they're probably fine." The venue can still appear on the map for whatever we can actually verify, but the trans and nonbinary tags wait until the evidence shows up.

There is one built-in shortcut, and it exists for a good reason. Congregations that belong to denominations with formal, denomination-wide affirmation policies qualify automatically. That covers Unitarian Universalist, Metropolitan Community Church, Episcopal, United Church of Christ, ELCA, Reconciling United Methodist congregations, and Reform Judaism. For these, affirmation has been ratified into the bylaws of the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community.

What doesn't count as proof

We love seeing all of these things. And none of them, on their own, earns an affirmation tag:

  • A Pride flag in the window or a rainbow logo in June

  • Being queer-owned. Ownership identity is not the same thing as a verified practice of trans affirmation

  • Generic "everyone is welcome here" language

  • Sponsoring a Pride event or showing up at one

  • Reviews that say a place is gay-friendly but never mention trans or nonbinary patrons at all

LGBTQ+-friendly and trans-affirming overlap a lot, but not always, and our community knows the difference the hard way. So we keep those tags separate, and each one has to be earned on its own evidence.

When the evidence isn't there yet

Sometimes a place looks really promising but the proof just doesn't clear our bar. When that happens, we don't quietly lower the bar. We move the entry out of the pins entirely and into a clearly labeled "Regional Resources / Verify First" section, so it's obvious you should check before you go.

The same goes for anything still pending. If we're waiting on a direct answer from an owner about their affirmation practices, the entry waits right along with us. We hold tags until we hear back. We don't guess.

How a map actually gets built

Every city starts with several rounds of research. We pull from community seed lists, local LGBTQ+ directories, regional press, venue websites and posted policies, and listings that owners submit themselves. Then we cross-check everything against everything else instead of taking any single source on faith. Entries get deduplicated, addresses get verified, and neighborhoods get assigned based on actual coordinates instead of guesswork.

Before a map ships, we audit every trans and nonbinary tag in it, one entry at a time, against the three-condition rule, and we document the specific reason each tag is there.

Our college-town maps carry a few extra rules of their own. They stay within a five-mile radius of campus, and they leave out bars and nightlife entirely, because students have different needs than a city at large. Many are under 21, many are newly out, and many are far from their support systems.

And the work doesn't stop when a map goes live. If a venue changes hands, changes its policies, or someone in the community reports an experience that contradicts a tag, we look into it and we fix it. A map is only trustworthy if it's maintained regularly. If you spot something we got wrong, please tell us.

Transparency statement

As of June 11, 2026:

We have not voluntarily given information on users' usage of our website to any government agency. Additionally, as of the date above, we have not received a National Security Letter, FISA order, or any other classified demand for user information. We have not been required to modify our systems to enable surveillance of our users, and we have not placed, and have not been required to place, any backdoors in our website or maps. We do not log who views which map, and we do not sell, share, or monetize individual visitors data.

This statement is reissued with a fresh date on a regular schedule. If this notice disappears, or the date stops updating, draw your own conclusions. We will update the date at a minimum of once a quarter.

Why this matters: our maps mark where vulnerable people gather. We built this resource to protect our community, and that protection extends to how we handle the data of everyone who uses it.