David Hudson

Dating app Grindr today launched its new ‘Kindr’ initiative. The project arrives in response to complaints from some users after experiencing racist, body-shaming or stigmatizing language.

Grindr announced Kindr a few weeks ago, but provided scant details as to what the project would entail.

Today, it released the first of a series of videos in which it addresses the debate around online behaviour. It also unveiled new user community guidelines. These state profiles face moderation if they list what they disliked based on racial group or gender expression

The first video features app users explaining why stating what you’re not looking for – in relation to racial groups – is problematic.

It starts by stating some blatantly racist language users have heard online (‘Go back to Mexico’, ‘People like you are the reason Ebola exist’), before moving on to the ‘covert racism’ of profile preferences.

One man explains how reading exclusionary messages online feels like walking down a street and seeing shop signs welcoming only one kind of customer.

‘Racism is you thinking I’m not going to be smarter than you when you first meet me,’ says one black contributor, Rakeem Cunningham.

Rakeem Cunningham (Photo: Grindr)

‘Or when black people are articulate and other people go, “Oh, you’re so well spoken!” Like, that’s the stuff that bothers me, and that’s the stuff I think needs to be addressed. I think the racism that’s not overt but that’s covert is the main problem.’

An Asian contributor, Joel Kim Booster, says that he began to wonder if there was something wrong with him, or if there was something he should be ashamed about when interacting with guys online. ‘It opened my eyes to a hierarchy that I wasn’t participating in before.’

Why not just stay quiet instead of needlessly offending someone?

‘If you don’t put “No Asians” in your profile, that doesn’t mean you have to fuck Asians now. It just means I don’t have to see it,’ he says.

‘It is not racist to not be attracted to me personally,’ he adds. ‘But for you to say “I know what every Asian guy looks like and I know for a fact that I would not be attracted to any of them…” Like that comes from a racist place because you don’t know what we all look like. That’s ugly.

‘We have only so much in our profiles to get across whatever the fuck we want to get across to all the other guys on this app, and you’re going to take space to narrow it by what you don’t want. Just tell me what you do like. If you tell me you like the fucking Jonas Brothers, I know I’m not for you.’

Former Queer Eye alum Jai Rodriguez also takes part. He points out, ‘You don’t know what the person on the other side of the phone is going through. You have no idea what they’re experience is or what else they have going on. Or what that comment might do to them.’

Many talk about the impact of language.

‘No matter what battle you’re going through, you don’t have to break other people in order to feel good,’ says contributor Jasmine Aksornkij. ‘You don’t have to hurt other people in order to make you feel uplifted.

The video ends with the campaign’s tagline: ‘It’s time to play nice.’

‘Responsibility to not only protect our users, but also to set the standard’

‘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,’ said Landen Zumwalt, head of communications at Grindr, in a press statement.

‘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.

‘Online discrimination has reached epidemic proportions affecting not only Grindr but other social networks. Our ‘Kindr’ initiative is a rallying call for Grindr and our community to take a stand against sexual racism and all forms of othering.

‘Together, we will work to maintain a welcoming and inclusive environment and end the need for people to include exclusionary statements on profiles.’

New community guidelines and moderation

Grindr says it will be rolling out more videos over the next five weeks. It has also updated its community guidelines. In these, it says that moderators will act if they see people making statements such as ‘No Asians’ in their profile descriptions.

‘We have a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, harassment, and abusive behavior. We want you to be yourself, but not at the expense of someone else. Anyone found bullying, threatening, or defaming another user will be banned.

‘We will also remove any discriminatory statements displayed on profiles. You’re free to express your preferences, but we’d rather hear about what you’re into, not what you aren’t.

‘Profile language that is used to openly discriminate against other users’ traits and characteristics (“No fats, no fems, no Asians”) will no longer be tolerated and will be subject to review by our moderation team.’

Other apps take action

Grindr is not the only dating app acting to moderate racist language and stigmatizing behavior. Last week, Chappy launched its own ‘zero tolerance for abuse’ campaign. Scruff also announced earlier this month that it would make its ‘ethnicity’ field optional.

Grindr was launched in 2009 and now claims to have 3.8million daily active users. It was sold in its entirety to Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech last year. Grindr remains headquartered in Hollywood, California, but The company is considering an initial public offering.

A comprehensive, 10-year study of Fortune 500 companies has conclude that greater gender diversity at boardroom level makes for a far more inclusive workplace for LGBT people.

The study has been published by SAGE in the journal of Human Relations, in partnership with The Tavistock Institute.

The report’s authors note that non-discrimination policies and domestic partner health insurance benefits are implemented only with the support of top leadership.

They looked at whether the gender of the CEO influenced the likelihood of a company having LGBT inclusive policies, and then at the gender diversity of that company’s board. On both counts, it looked at the years 2001-2010.

It concluded that although the gender of a company’s CEO had an influence on its LGBT-friendly credentials, that influence was far more pronounced if there was diversity across the whole boardroom.

‘While women CEOs are vital for advancing a company’s commitment to domestic partnership benefits and gender identity non-discrimination polices, diverse boards are associated with the full range of LGBT-inclusive policies and practices,’ the author’s concluded.

‘Firms with a higher percentage of women on the board and those with influential women board members are more likely than other firms to adopt a broad range of LGBT- friendly policies and practices.’

‘Our study suggests that diversity advocates committed to advancing inclusive policies – including but perhaps not limited to policies related to sexual orientation and gender identity – should prioritize board diversity.’

In a press statement, one of the report’s co-authors, Alison Cook, Associate Professor at Utah State University, commented, ‘Our study is important because it shows that leadership diversity can significantly influence a company’ likelihood of adopting inclusive polices.

‘Gender diversity in the boardroom is key; women directors increase a company’s commitment to equity and fairness and advance firms’ strategic goals.’

In terms of measuring a company’s LGBT-inclusiveness, the author’s made use of Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index – a ranking of US corporations based on their policies regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender staff.

Deena Fidas, head of HRC’s Workplace Equality Program, and co-author of the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, told Gay Star Business, ‘Corporate LGBT inclusion is inextricably linked to race, gender and other salient attributes in the workplace. It’s not surprising then, that corporate boards with greater gender diversity reflect corporations that also value and engage LGBT diversity.’

The report was welcomed by others working in the field of LGBTI diversity and inclusion. Selisse Berry, CEO of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, said, ‘It’s empowering to see that companies with a diverse board of directors are more likely to foster open and inclusive workplaces for LGBT employees and it’s not surprising that women understand the value of diversity and are willing to invest in developing it.

‘We all have attributes, skills and life experiences that contribute to the success of our work environment – LGBT employees are no different. Having a diverse board of directors that understands this helps bring together varied perspectives and ideas while also sending a strong message to LGBT employees that they are respected and valued.’

‘We strongly believe that increasing diversity within corporate governance structures has important direct and indirect impacts on company cultures and bottom-lines,’ said Juan Herrera, Director of Talent Initiatives at Out Leadership.

‘Our initiative Quorum, dedicated to increasing representation of LGBT directors on corporate boards, is particularly focused on the way that the intersectional nature of the LGBT community creates the opportunity for businesses to diversify their boards in more than one way at a time.’