Looking for hot singles in your area who feel included in the profile process of a dating app? Well, Tinder is stepping up! People using the dating app finally have an opportunity to provide more information about their gender identity, as opposed to just submitting “male” or “female.”
With this update users can identify as transgender, trans man, trans woman, gender queer, agender, and over 30 other identities. The update comes after Business Insider reported in June that some transgender users reported being banned from the app for being trans.
“About six months ago, we really realized there was a big issue with harassment toward transgender people,” said Sean Rad, CEO of Tinder, in an interview with TechCrunch. “Our immediate reaction was, this is unacceptable we’re going to squash this. As we went on this journey, we started peeling back the orange and realized it was a complex issue.”
Photo via Tinder
Rad arranged a group of individuals, activists, and organizations like GLAAD, which addresses issues in the representation of LGBTQ+ community in the media, to work on the language and options within the new settings.
“I really do think that when a major company like Tinder, which has tens of millions of users, sends a message that trans people are welcome and won’t stand for bullying or harassment, it really does send a very important message,” said Nick Adams, director of transgender affairs with GLAAD.
Ultimately, Tinder took a sensitive issue that often gets overlooked or ignored, and gave users the most options possible when deciding how they identify, what gender they can be searched under, and who sees their identity.
There are still some restrictions (searches are still done under either male or female), but this is a big step for Tinder, one of the most popular dating apps in the world, and for the trans community.
Top Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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