BUSTLE – June 25 – Members of the LGBTQ community still aren't protected from discrimination under federal law. But in an important move forward, the Equality Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in March 2019. The bill passed the House in May and awaits approval by the Senate. Now, during Pride month, Tinder's #RightToLove feature encourages people to contact their senators in support of the Equality Act. Tinder's #RightToLove campaign, which includes a PRIDE Slide in New York City that will donate $10 from every trip down the slide to the Human Rights Campaign in support of the Equality Act, is a call to action to ensure everyone's rights are protected under the law.
Category: All Gay
Growlr: What the New Owners Have in Store for the App?
GAYSTAR NEWS – June 21 – Gay entrepreneur Coley Cummiskey launched men's dating app Growlr in 2010 in Columbus, Ohio. In March, it was revealed he'd sold it in a $12M deal to tech company, The Meet Group. The app says it has 10M members and ~200K daily users. Growlr is aimed very much at the 'bears' market – men who are bigger, hairer and heftier, plus their admirers. TMG is a publicly owned business headquartered in New Hope, Pennsylvania. TMG was founded in 2005 as MyYearbook, but has grown and changed its name in the intervening years. It was founded by current CEO, Geoff Cook with his siblings, Catherine and Dave Cook, and specializes in dating apps. Its other brands include MeetMe, LOVOO, Skout and Tagged. They launched live streaming on MeetMe in April 2017, and have now embedded it into LOVOO, Tagged and Skout. "What we saw with Growlr was a very active, and a pretty sizeable community sending many millions of messages every single day. We saw the potential to roll out live streaming video into that community," said Mr Cook. One thing that won't change is the app's focus. The team realize that's its strength. Growlr does have a very distinct sense of community. Its users are very loyal and very engaged.
Gay Dating App Chappy Launches New Friend Finder Mode
GAYTIMES – June 21 – Chappy has launched a new feature called Friend Mode for users to meet friends, to mentor or be mentored. Just like in Date Mode, users must both swipe right on each other to initiate a conversation.
Queer Dating Apps Are Unsafe by Design
NEW YORK TIMES – June 20 – In 2016, the Pew Research Center found that use of online dating apps among young adults had tripled in three years. The rates are higher among queer people. The frequency with which queer people using social media and mobile dating apps amplifies the privacy concerns we face compared with the general population. 15% of gay and bisexual men who use geosocial dating apps report that someone has shared their intimate images without their consent. Catfishing and revenge porn are common on queer dating platforms. The problem isn't sharing intimate selfies. The problem is the law permits the development of apps that are unsafe by design. Tort law, the regime we use to seek damages from harassers, has been ineffectual because many courts look at gay people sharing selfies and conclude that they gave up their privacy the moment they clicked "send." We've only just introduced a federal revenge porn bill. Communications Decency Act Section 230 immunizes digital platforms from most legal liability associated with the bad behavior of their users.
This Pride Month, Tinder, Bumble, and OkCupid Are Swiping Right on Inclusion
by Sutrishna Ghosh
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Tinder’s Data Sharing Endangers Russian LGBTQ Community
USA TODAY – June 14 – This month, Russia's telecoms regulator, the Roskomnadzor, added Tinder to a list of websites and apps that it forces to store user data, messages and pictures on government-accessible Russian servers. The agency can then offer that data up to law enforcement and intelligence services on demand. If Tinder agrees to provide this information, its users in Russia will have no meaningful sense of privacy on the app. This data collection policy puts Tinder's commitments in conflict. On one hand, users agree to a privacy policy that states that Tinder can share their information to "comply with a legal process." On the other, the company has a commitment to its users and stakeholders. Its privacy web page directly says Tinder does not "compromise with your privacy." Sharing data with the Russian government would seriously endanger Tinder's LGBTQ user base. In 2013, the federal government in Moscow passed legislation broadly banning gay "propaganda" directed at minors. In practice, this law has shut down LGBTQ health education and support services, contributed to a rise in homophobic violence and silenced LGBTQ rights organizations.
Investors Are Not in Love With Lesbian Dating Apps
MIC – June 13 – In the early days of dating apps, there was a rush of interest in creating a "lesbian Grindr" – apps like Sizzr and FindHer quickly hit the scene, but neither of them ever got off the ground. Only one app found some success: Dattch (now known as HER), which launched in 2013. But despite HER's popularity, most queer women hadn't heard of it. Robyn Exton, the founder of HER, said that lack of money is the primary roadblock in increasing the app's growth and recognition. She said that a queer-founded business is never going to have the same funding as other apps because many investors don't see queer women as a profitable demographic, despite women's proven spending power. Although HER raised several million dollars in funding in its first few years, the app has always been an indie shop – a bootstrapped entity run on a minimal budget – and that has dramatically impacted both the app's functionality.
People Want Gay Marriage to Be Legal in India: Study
Tinder Will Let Users List Their Sexual Orientation in Their Profile
Lebanon’s Decision to Block Gay App Slammed by Amnesty
ALBAWABA – June 4 – Lebanon's decision to block Grindr was slammed on Wednesday by Amnesty International as "a deeply regressive step, and a blow" for the human rights of the local LGBTI community. The app was blocked following an order by the country's telecommunications ministry issued on Friday. A decades-old law in Lebanon punishes sexual relations "contrary to nature" with up to one year in prison.