Non-discrimination Policy
Last updated: 5th of March 2023
YourStudios is, at its core, an open community dedicated to bringing the world closer together by fostering meaningful, shared experiences among people from all parts of the world. Our community is incredibly diverse, drawing together individuals of different cultures, values, and norms.
The YourStudios community is committed to building a world where people from every background feel welcome and respected. This commitment rests on two foundational principles that apply both to YourStudios’s Event Organisers and Venue Owners: inclusion and respect. Our shared commitment to these principles enables all members of our community to feel welcome on the YourStudios platform no matter who they are, where they come from, how they worship, or whom they love.
While we do not believe that one company can mandate harmony among all people, we do believe that the YourStudios community can promote empathy and understanding across all cultures. We are all committed to doing everything we can to help eliminate all forms of unlawful bias, discrimination, and intolerance from our platform. We want to promote a culture within the YourStudios community—venues, event organisers and people just considering whether to use our platform—that goes above and beyond mere compliance. To that end, all of us, YourStudios employees, venues and event organisers alike, agree to read and act in accordance with the following policy to strengthen our community and realize our mission of ensuring that everyone can belong, and feels welcome, anywhere.
Inclusion – We welcome people of all backgrounds with authentic hospitality and open minds. Joining YourStudios, as a Venue or Event Organiser, means becoming part of a community of inclusion. Bias, prejudice, racism, and hatred have no place on our platform or in our community. While Venues are required to follow all applicable laws that prohibit discrimination based on such factors as race, religion, national origin, and others listed below, we commit to do more than comply with the minimum requirements established by law.
Respect – We are respectful of each other in our interactions and encounters. YourStudios appreciates that local laws and cultural norms vary around the world and expects Venues and Event Organisers to abide by local laws, and to engage with each other respectfully, even when views may not reflect their beliefs or upbringings. YourStudios’s members bring to our community an incredible diversity of background experiences, beliefs, and customs. By connecting people from different backgrounds, YourStudios fosters greater understanding and appreciation for the common characteristics shared by all human beings and undermines prejudice rooted in misconception, misinformation, or misunderstanding.
Specific Guidance for Venues in the United States, European Union, and Canada
As a general matter, we will familiarize ourselves with all applicable federal, state, and local laws that apply to housing and places of public accommodation. Some jurisdictions may have additional legal requirements that expand or limit the civil right protections of the user community. Venues are required to comply with such legal requirements. Venues should contact YourStudios customer service if they have any questions about their obligations to comply with this YourStudios Non-discrimination Policy. Guided by these principles, our U.S., EU, and Canadian Venue community will follow these rules when considering potential Event Organisers and hosting Event Organisers:
Race, Color, Ethnicity, National Origin, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, or Marital Status
YourStudios Venues may not:
Decline a booking based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
Impose any different terms or conditions based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
Post any listing or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any Event Organiser on account of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
Gender Identity
YourStudios does not assign a gender identity to our users. We consider the gender of individuals to be what they identify and/or designate on their user profiles, and we expect our YourStudios community to do the same. This includes respecting the pronouns (he/him, she/her, they/them, etc.) any users within the community identify themselves with.
YourStudios Venues may not:
Decline a booking from an Event Organiser based on gender identity.
Impose any different terms or conditions based on gender.
Post any listing or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any Event Organiser on account of gender.
YourStudios Venues may:
Make a space available to all Event Organisers.
Age and Familial Status
YourStudios Venues may not:
Impose any different terms or conditions or decline a reservation based on the Event Organiser’s age or familial status, where prohibited by law.
YourStudios Venues may:
Provide factually accurate information about their listing’s features (or lack of them) that could make the listing unsafe or unsuitable for Event Organisers of a certain age or families with children or infants.
Note in their listings applicable community restrictions, regulations, or laws that prohibit Event Organisers under a particular age.
Disability
YourStudios Venues may not:
Decline an Event Organiser based on any actual or perceived disability.
Impose any different terms or conditions based on the fact that the Event Organiser has a disability.
Substitute their own judgment about whether a space meets the needs of an Event Organiser with a disability for that of the prospective Event Organiser.
Inquire about the existence or severity of an Event Organiser’s disability, or the means used to accommodate any disability. If, however, a potential Event Organiser raises his or her disability, a Venue may, and should, discuss with the potential Event Organiser whether the listing meets the potential Event Organiser’s needs.
Prohibit or limit the use of mobility devices.
Charge more in fees for Event Organisers with disabilities, including pet fees when the Event Organiser has a service animal.
Post any listing or make any statement that discourages or indicates a preference for or against any Event Organiser on account of the fact that the Event Organiser has a disability.
Refuse to communicate with Event Organisers through accessible means.
Refuse to provide reasonable accommodations, including flexibility when Event Organisers with disabilities request modest changes in your rules, such as using an available parking space near the unit. When an Event Organiser requests such an accommodation, the Venue and the Event Organiser should engage in a dialogue to explore mutually agreeable ways to ensure the space meets the Event Organiser’s needs.
YourStudios Venues may:
Provide factually accurate information about the space’s accessibility features (or lack of them), allowing for Event Organisers with disabilities to assess for themselves whether the space is appropriate to their individual needs.
Personal Preferences
YourStudios Venues may:
Except as noted above, YourStudios Venues may decline a booking based on factors that are not prohibited by law. For example, except where prohibited by law, YourStudios Venues may decline a booking with pets, or to Event Organisers who smoke.
When Event Organisers are turned down. Venues should keep in mind that no one likes to be turned down. While a Venue may have, and articulate, lawful and legitimate reasons for turning down a potential Event Organiser, it may cause that member of our community to feel unwelcome or excluded. Venues should make every effort to be welcoming to Event Organisers of all backgrounds. Venues who demonstrate a pattern of rejecting Event Organisers from a protected class (even while articulating legitimate reasons) undermine the strength of our community by making potential Event Organisers feel unwelcome, and YourStudios may suspend Venues who have demonstrated such a pattern from the YourStudios platform.
What happens when a Venue does not comply with our policies in this area?
If a particular listing contains language contrary to this non-discrimination policy, the Venue will be asked to remove the language and affirm their understanding and intent to comply with this policy and its underlying principles. YourStudios may also, in its discretion, take steps up to and including suspending the Venue from the YourStudios platform.
If the Venue improperly rejects Event Organisers on the basis of protected class, or uses language demonstrating that his or her actions were motivated by factors prohibited by this policy, YourStudios will take steps to enforce this policy, up to and including suspending the Venue from the platform.
As the YourStudios community grows, we will continue to ensure that YourStudios’s policies and practices align with our most important goal: To ensure that Event Organisers and Venues feel welcome and respected in all of their interactions using the YourStudios platform. The public, our community, and we ourselves, expect no less than this.
The Non-discrimination Policy applies to all parts of the YourStudios business.