I am deeply committed to keeping your data confidential. My field notes will be securely stored in a password-protected and encrypted folder, and only one individual (Nicole McMahon) will ever have access to this information. Your participation is voluntary, and you have the right to refuse to participate or to withdraw without negative consequences. You are free to withdraw from the study until July 1, 2026. To withdraw from the study, please contact me (nicole.mcmahon1@ucalgary.ca) to communicate that you wish to withdraw, along with a reminder of where and when we interacted, so that I can remove our interaction from my field notes. If you choose to withdraw from the study, any field notes from our interaction will be destroyed. Otherwise, I will retain the field notes indefinitely for future research purposes.

The information that you provide will be used in academic research on municipal politics, 2SLGBTQ+ politics, and representation. To protect confidentiality and privacy, your information will be protected in the following ways:

• I will never record your personal name, even in my hand-written field notes.

• I will never disclose the location of our interaction at a level below that of the city.

• I will never disclose personal information about you if there is any risk that such information could allow another person to identify you. For instance, I would only disclose your gender or age group if our interaction took place in a context involving many others of the same gender or age group.