Grindr, the social networking and dating app for gay men, launched an anti-discrimination, anti-bullying initiative as a part of the app called Kindr Sept. 18.
Kindr was announced in July in a video posted to Grindr’s Instagram with audio of men talking about sexual racism and different forms of discrimination.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlvtzN3h5il/?hl=en&taken-by=grindr
Landen Zumwalt, Grindr’s head of communications, explained in an interview with Billboard magazine that its community guidelines are changing in order to create a safer environment for all its users.
“Sexual racism, transphobia, fat and femme shaming and further forms of othering such as stigmatization of HIV-positive individuals are pervasive problems in the LGBTQ community,” Zumwalt said. “These community issues get brought onto our platform, and as a leader in the gay dating space, Grindr has a responsibility to not only protect our users, but also to set the standard for the broader community that we serve.”
The initiative’s new website displays the updated community guidelines.
The About page on their website goes on to explain that the app will not tolerate any kind of discrimination and they encourage people to report discrimination when they see it.
“At Grindr, we’re into diversity, inclusion and users who treat each other with respect. We’re not into racism, bullying or other forms of toxic behavior,” the new community guidelines state.
The “zero-tolerance” harassment policy advises users who violate these new policies will be banned from the app indefinitely.
“Online discrimination has reached epidemic proportions affecting not only Grindr but other social networks,” Zumwalt said. “Together, we will work to maintain a welcoming and inclusive environment and end the need for people to include exclusionary statements on profiles.”
In an effort to end sexual racism, Grindr will also release a five-video series on their YouTube channel. The videos will document the personal stories of discrimination that users have experienced on the app. The first video, released Sept. 18, features “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 10 contestant The Vixen, former “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” culture expert Jai Rodriguez and comic Joel Kim Booster.
Watch the video below.
