Religion

A former Catholic priest has brought a lawsuit against Grindr for allegedly selling his personal data without his knowledge or consent. He says the public “outing” cost him his job and his reputation.

In the lawsuit, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill claimed that Grindr failed to inform him that his data was being sold to vendors, thereby allowing people outside of the app to know he was using it and causing him “significant damage,” according to The New York Post.

This follows a class action lawsuit in the U.K. brought by 650 plaintiffs alleging that Grindr shared their data with third parties without their knowledge or consent, including sensitive data like HIV status. The lawsuit also alleges that some of the third parties might have retained some of this data for their own purposes.

Image: eHarmony

eharmony unveiled a new ad for its dating app in time for dating’s busiest season, but the LGBTQ+-led campaign did not go over well with Christian groups.

The ad features a lesbian couple snuggled up on the couch waiting for their laundry to finish. When the buzzer goes off, one partner gets up to retrieve the laundry while the other lies on the bed, waiting and smiling. Then her partner unloads all the clean laundry on her, and she is elated and taking in the warmth of the clothes fresh out of the dryer. The tagline for the ad is: “Get who gets you.”

According to The Pink News, despite the cute and feel-good premise, right wing Christian activist group One Million Moms has launched a petition to remove the ad from the air, and so far have received over 12,000 signatures. The organization claimed that the ad was airing during “prime time” when children were likely to be watching television and was “crossing a line that eharmony should have never crossed,” according to the petition.

A new survey of Bumble’s Indian users found that 63 percent want a date for Festival Season. Many singles work and live away from their hometowns, and crave companionship at this time of year.

According to Hindustan Times, the study also found that 36 percent of respondents like to enjoy festival season with friends, and 27 percent with their partners.

Festivals occur in India year-round, but perhaps one of the more famous festivals, Diwali, is a five-day festival that takes place in October/ November and represents the start of the Hindu New Year. Specifically, it celebrates Lord Rama and his wife Sita’s return to their kingdom after defeating evil demons, according to Hindu tradition. The festivities are planned around the lunar cycle.  

Tinder has added new profile stickers to celebrate Pride month, and as young LGBTQIA+ daters become the fastest-growing user base on its platform.

Young users can now add “My First Pride” as a sticker to help them connect with others attending Pride-related events, according to The Advocate. “Came Out Online” is another sticker specifically honoring younger Tinder users who first came out on a dating app or social media platform.

In fact, Tinder’s new Future of Dating Report found that 54 percent of LGBTQIA+ singles between the ages of 18 and 25 come out on dating apps first, and to friends and family later. The study also found that young singles say their sexual identity and gender identity have become more fluid over the past three years.

Image: Netflix

Netflix launched its latest dating reality TV show Jewish Matchmaking in May, and it’s already sparking new interest among young singles to try the age-old practice.

According to Jewish Unpacked, matchmaking is ancient but gets a fresh new look on the Netflix series, hosted by Aleeza Ben Shalom, Dating Coach and Matchmaker. One of the contestants is content creator Cindy Seni (who has also hosted videos for Unpacked), who was contacted by the production team to audition.

“I was making a lot of reels about being single,” Seni told Unpacked. “So I was sent an email, and then I just applied as a joke at the beginning, because I had just gotten out of a relationship. And I was like, Well, why not? You know, if someone’s gonna find me a husband, it’s going to be Netflix.” 

Popular gay dating app Grindr has issued a warning to its users in Egypt after reports surfaced that police were posing as potential matches to target and arrest LGBTQ+ people.

While homosexuality is not illegal in Egypt per se, according to Associated Press, authorities frequently prosecute the LGBTQ+ community, and specifically gay men, on the grounds of “morality laws” such as “debauchery” and “violating public decency.”

The warning comes as human rights groups, media and activists have noticed authorities cracking down on the LGBTQ+ community in Egypt via digital platforms such as gay dating apps. According to The Hill, the U.S. State Department acknowledged this in a report they issued in 2021 citing “credible accounts of violence ‘targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons and use of the law to arrest and prosecute arbitrarily such persons.’”