Membership Eligibility and Admission Policy

1. About this policy

Sapphic Sphere is operated by The Big Small Talk LLC, a limited liability company, trading as Sapphic Sphere (“Sapphic Sphere”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

This policy explains:

• the particular community Sapphic Sphere exists to serve;
• who is eligible to apply for membership;
• how applications are assessed;
• how age, identity and eligibility may be verified;
• how admission decisions and appeals are handled; and
• how eligibility information is protected.

This policy forms part of the Sapphic Sphere Terms of Membership. It applies to applicants, members, administrators, moderators and authorised guests.

2. Our purpose

Sapphic Sphere is a selective, private online membership community created to facilitate friendship, conversation, shared interests, events, learning, mutual support, networking and community life among adult lesbian and bisexual women..

Sapphic Sphere is organised around:

1. female sex; and
2. lesbian or bisexual sexual orientation understood in relation to sex.

Sapphic Sphere is not a general public social network or a general LGBTQ membership service. Admission is not automatic and is not obtained merely by paying a subscription.

Sapphic Sphere is not a dating platform or matchmaking service.

Members may naturally form friendships or personal relationships through ordinary participation in the community. Sapphic Sphere does not arrange, broker, recommend or match members for romantic or sexual relationships.

The definitions in this policy are used solely to identify the membership group Sapphic Sphere was established to serve. They do not purport to dictate how any person describes herself or himself outside Sapphic Sphere.

3. Core eligibility requirements

An applicant must satisfy all of the following requirements.

3.1 Age

The applicant must be at least 18 years old at the time of application.

No person under 18 may register, apply, access a member account or attend a members-only Sapphic Sphere event.

3.2 Approved location

The applicant must ordinarily reside in a country, territory or US state in which Sapphic Sphere currently accepts members.

The application form will identify the locations from which applications are being accepted. Availability in a location may be introduced, restricted, suspended or withdrawn following legal, regulatory, safety, payment-processing or operational review.

Applicants must not disguise or misrepresent their location through a false address, virtual private network or other means.

3.3 Female sex

The applicant must be female.

For this policy, female sex means that the applicant’s sex was observed and recorded as female at birth, except where the original record was corrected because it was factually inaccurate rather than subsequently altered to reflect gender identity.

A later change to a passport, birth certificate, driving licence, gender marker or other legal or administrative record does not, by itself, satisfy the female-sex requirement where the applicant’s sex was recorded as male at birth.

An applicant is not required to disclose whether she holds a Gender Recognition Certificate or an equivalent document, and Sapphic Sphere will not ordinarily ask that question.

An applicant with a variation of sex development or a documented correction to an inaccurate original record may request a confidential individual review. Sapphic Sphere will not require genetic testing, intimate photographs, physical examination or unnecessary medical information.

3.4 Womanhood

The applicant must identify and live socially as a woman.

Female sex alone does not establish eligibility where an applicant identifies and lives exclusively as a man. A person who does not regard herself as a woman does not satisfy this criterion.

3.5 Sexual orientation

The applicant must describe her sexual orientation as lesbian or bisexual.

Within Sapphic Sphere:

• lesbian refers to a woman whose sexual orientation is towards women; and
• bisexual refers to a woman whose sexual orientation includes women and men.

Eligibility is based on an applicant’s good-faith declaration of her sexual orientation. Applicants are not required to disclose intimate details, sexual history or previous relationships.

A bisexual woman remains eligible regardless of the sex of her current partner, her marital status or whether she is currently single.

3.6 Community participation

The applicant must:

• make a genuine application for membership;
• intend to use the community for its stated purposes;
• provide complete and truthful application information;
• agree to the Terms of Membership, Community Standards and Privacy Notice;
• respect the privacy and safety of members;
• refrain from entering for surveillance, disruption, harassment, research without permission or publication of members’ information; and
• refrain from using membership to campaign inside Sapphic Sphere against the community’s stated membership purpose.

Applicants and members are not required to hold any prescribed political, religious or philosophical belief. They are required to comply with the community’s rules and not deliberately undermine its lawful operation.

4. Applicants who do not meet the criteria

An applicant does not meet the eligibility criteria where any of the following applies:

• she is under 18;
• she lives outside an approved location;
• her sex was recorded as male at birth;
• she does not identify and live as a woman;
• she does not describe her sexual orientation as lesbian or bisexual;
• she provides materially false, altered or misleading information;
• she attempts to create an account for another person;
• she has previously been permanently removed and has not received written permission to reapply;
• she presents a reasonably evidenced fraud, safeguarding, privacy or community-safety risk; or
• admitting her would be unlawful or would place Sapphic Sphere in breach of a binding regulatory, platform or payment-provider requirement.

Gender identity alone does not satisfy the female-sex criterion.

A person who does not meet the criteria is not being prevented from forming or joining another community. The decision concerns eligibility for this particular membership association only.

5. Application process

The normal admission process is:

1. The applicant reads the public eligibility summary and this policy.
2. The applicant confirms that she is at least 18 and lives in an approved location.
3. The applicant submits an eligibility declaration.
4. The applicant separately consents, where required, to the processing of information concerning her sexual orientation.
5. Age and identity verification is completed where required.
6. Sapphic Sphere reviews the application.
7. The applicant may be asked to clarify incomplete or inconsistent information.
8. Sapphic Sphere accepts, waitlists or declines the application.
9. An accepted applicant is invited to complete payment and activate her membership.

Submitting an application does not create a right to membership or a membership contract. A membership contract begins only when Sapphic Sphere confirms acceptance and the applicant completes the required subscription process.

Sapphic Sphere should not normally collect a membership subscription before an application has been accepted. Any payment collected before acceptance must be refunded if admission is declined, unless the applicant expressly purchased a separate, clearly described and already supplied service.

6. Verification

6.1 Purpose of verification

Verification may be used to:

• confirm age;
• confirm that an applicant is a real person;
• prevent duplicate, fraudulent or impersonating accounts;
• confirm document authenticity;
• support the safety of the community; and
• investigate a material inconsistency relating to eligibility.

6.2 Identity documents

Government-issued identity documents will ordinarily be used to verify name, identity, age and document authenticity.

A gender or sex marker on a current identity document may not reliably establish the sex recorded at birth in every jurisdiction. Identity verification and eligibility assessment are therefore separate processes.

6.3 Eligibility declaration

Sapphic Sphere will ordinarily assess female sex and sexual orientation through a clear, signed or electronically recorded declaration.

An applicant must answer eligibility questions honestly according to the definitions in this policy, rather than according to a different personal or organisational definition.

6.4 Additional information

Sapphic Sphere may request proportionate clarification where there is a material and objectively supportable inconsistency.

Sapphic Sphere will not request:

• intimate images;
• a physical or anatomical examination;
• genetic testing;
• proof of sexual activity;
• details of an applicant’s sex life;
• unnecessary medical records; or
• disclosure of a Gender Recognition Certificate merely to determine eligibility.

Any additional request must be necessary, lawful, respectful and limited to the minimum information required.

6.5 Accessibility

Applicants with disabilities may request a reasonable adjustment or an accessible alternative to the standard application or verification process.

An applicant will not be rejected merely because she cannot use a particular verification technology where a reasonable and sufficiently secure alternative is available.

7. Use of eligibility information

Information about sexual orientation is sensitive personal information and may receive enhanced protection under applicable privacy law.

Sapphic Sphere will:

• collect only information reasonably necessary for admission and membership administration;
• provide a Privacy Notice before collecting eligibility information;
• obtain separate explicit consent where that is the applicable legal condition;
• limit access to authorised personnel and contracted processors;
• avoid making eligibility information publicly visible by default;
• not sell eligibility or verification information;
• not use it for unrelated advertising without separate valid permission;
• maintain appropriate security and access controls;
• retain it only for the periods stated in the Privacy Notice and retention schedule; and
• provide procedures for privacy requests and complaints.

Where an applicant withdraws consent, the withdrawal will not affect processing already lawfully carried out. Where the relevant information is objectively necessary to assess or administer eligibility, withdrawal may mean that the application or membership cannot continue, subject to applicable law.

Admission decisions involving sensitive eligibility information should receive meaningful human review and should not be made solely by an automated system.

8. Admission decisions

Applications will be assessed against the published criteria and not according to an administrator’s personal preference.

Subject to the defining eligibility characteristics in section 3, Sapphic Sphere will not base admission decisions on unrelated characteristics such as:

• race or ethnicity;
• nationality;
• disability;
• pregnancy or maternity;
• religion or lack of religion;
• political opinion;
• marital or relationship status;
• income or social background; or
• previous membership of a lawful organisation.

Sapphic Sphere may consider relevant conduct, including fraud, harassment, threats, impersonation, stalking, deliberate privacy violations or previous serious breaches of community rules.

Applications may be:

• accepted;
• placed on a genuine operational waitlist;
• held pending clarification;
• declined because an eligibility requirement has not been met;
• declined because the applicant’s location is not approved; or
• declined for a documented safety, integrity or legal-compliance reason.

Admission decisions must be recorded consistently and confidentially.

9. Notice of decision

Applicants will be informed by email or through the application system.

Where an application is declined, Sapphic Sphere will normally identify the broad category of the decision, such as:

• age requirement not met;
• location not currently supported;
• eligibility criterion not met;
• verification not completed;
• information materially inconsistent or incomplete;
• safety or integrity concern; or
• previous account restriction.

Sapphic Sphere may withhold detailed operational information where disclosure would create a material fraud, privacy, security or safeguarding risk.

A refusal must not be communicated abusively, publicly or in a manner intended to humiliate the applicant.

10. Appeals

An unsuccessful applicant may submit one appeal within 14 days of receiving the decision.

An appeal should explain:

• which decision is challenged;
• why the applicant believes the policy was applied incorrectly; and
• any relevant correction or clarification.

The appeal should be reviewed by a person who did not make the original decision where reasonably practicable.

Sapphic Sphere may request limited additional information where necessary but will not use the appeal process to demand disproportionate or intrusive evidence.

Sapphic Sphere will aim to communicate the appeal outcome within 30 days. The appeal decision is final under the internal process, without limiting any non-waivable legal right to complain to a regulator or bring a lawful claim.

11. Continuing eligibility

The eligibility criteria apply throughout membership.

Sapphic Sphere does not routinely investigate members or require repeated disclosure of sensitive information without reason. It may review continuing eligibility where there is credible evidence of:

• material misrepresentation during application;
• impersonation or document fraud;
• loss of an essential eligibility requirement;
• an undisclosed change of ordinary residence to a location where membership is not available; or
• an attempt to transfer an account to another person.

A member must notify Sapphic Sphere if she permanently moves to a country, territory or US state where the service is not currently available.

A member must not be removed on the basis of rumour, stereotype, appearance, disability, gender nonconformity or malicious reporting. A reasonable review and an opportunity to respond must ordinarily take place before permanent removal.

12. Guests and events

Access by guests is not automatic.

Members may invite guests only where the event or part of the community expressly permits guests. Unless otherwise stated in writing, guests must satisfy the same age, sex and sexual-orientation criteria as members.

Separate public events may have different admission rules, which must be stated clearly before registration.

Admission to an event does not itself create membership.

13. International and territorial application

Sapphic Sphere is organised in the United States but may be subject to mandatory laws in other jurisdictions where it:

• markets membership;
• accepts applications;
• supplies subscriptions;
• organises events;
• processes personal information; or
• has members, staff or representatives.

No choice-of-law provision is intended to remove rights that cannot lawfully be waived under the law applicable to an applicant or member.

Sapphic Sphere maintains a Territorial Availability & Legal Review Register identifying the countries, territories and US states in which applications and memberships may currently be offered. A territory is not available for paid membership unless it has been expressly approved for launch following an appropriate legal, regulatory and operational review.

Where legal review indicates that the eligibility criteria cannot lawfully or reliably be operated in a jurisdiction, Sapphic Sphere may:

• decline to launch there;
• stop accepting new applications there;
• restrict particular services;
• pause pending applications;
• amend the local admission process; or
• withdraw from the jurisdiction in accordance with applicable consumer law.

Sapphic Sphere will not secretly replace the eligibility criteria with different criteria in a particular location. Any material local variation must be stated clearly before an applicant applies.

England, Scotland and Wales must be assessed under the Equality Act 2010. Northern Ireland has a separate equality-law framework and must not automatically be treated as part of the same approved territory.

US availability must be assessed state by state. Formation of the operating company in the United States does not establish that identical admission restrictions are lawful in every US state.

Applications from the European Economic Area, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other territories must not be opened merely because applications can technically be received there. Applicable equality, consumer, privacy, platform and online-safety requirements must first be reviewed.

14. Respect and non-harassment

A sex-based membership boundary does not permit harassment, threats, stalking, degrading abuse, publication of private information or incitement against people who are not eligible.

Applicants, members and staff must be treated with dignity during application, verification, refusal, appeal and membership administration.

Members may discuss sex, sexual orientation, women’s rights and the purpose of Sapphic Sphere in accordance with the Community Standards. They may not use the platform to target, threaten or organise harassment of any individual or group.

15. False information and circumvention

Sapphic Sphere may decline or terminate membership where an applicant or member knowingly:

• makes a materially false eligibility declaration;
• supplies altered or another person’s documents;
• conceals her location to evade territorial restrictions;
• creates duplicate accounts to evade a decision;
• gives account access to an ineligible person; or
• conspires with another person to defeat the admission process.

A permanent decision should remain proportionate, evidence-based and subject to the appeal process.

16. Changes to this policy

Sapphic Sphere may amend this policy to reflect:

• changes in law or regulatory guidance;
• court decisions;
• expansion into new territories;
• changes to verification processes;
• platform or payment-provider requirements;
• safety considerations; or
• changes to the community’s services.

Material changes will be notified to current members in a durable form before they take effect where required by law.

Changes will not be applied retrospectively to create a breach where a member complied with the policy then in force, except where action is required by law or necessary to address fraud or a serious safety risk.

Each published version will display its effective date and version number.

17. Contact and complaints

Questions, accessibility requests, appeals and complaints concerning this policy should be sent to:

Sapphic Sphere
Operated by The Big Small Talk LLC
2333 Brickell Ave D1-92, Miami, Florida 33129, United States
support@sapphicsphere.com
privacy@sapphicsphere.com

Privacy complaints may also be submitted through the process described in the Sapphic Sphere Privacy Notice.

Nothing in this policy prevents a person from exercising any non-waivable right under applicable equality, consumer, privacy or other law.