‍#WorkItWednesday is Grindr's feature on employees and programs at the heart of the work we do to connect the LGBTQ community with each other and the world around them. In this edition, we chat with Kimberly Escobar about her experience joining Grindr and how the IT team is looking to grow and scale.

Meet Kimberly Escobar (she/her), Senior IT Specialist!

Kimberly joined Grindr almost four years ago in May 2019. While in undergrad, Kimberly had the opportunity to complete internships at film production companies both in and out of IT. Upon graduating from California Lutheran University with a BS in Computer Science, Kimberly started as a Service Desk Engineer at a company that focused on solving production IT challenges for the media and entertainment industry. While her prior professional experience was centered around the film industry, she found it a natural transition to Grindr, which focuses on entertainment of a different variety!

Learn more about Kimberly’s journey below and check out the open role on the IT Team today!‍

Have you always worked in IT? What drew you to IT for tech or the dating space specifically?

I started working in IT during my undergraduate career in a few internships with media production companies. I was initially drawn to IT roles because they allowed me to work with so many different people, at all different levels across the organization. I really enjoy getting to work with and support so many functions of the business while still getting to work on challenging tech problems.

After a few years in the media and entertainment industry, I realized that I wasn't passionate about media production and wanted a change in environment. This led me to start interviewing with Grindr. While I had heard of the Grindr brand, I never realized the impact the company made on the LGBTQ community. I wasn’t intentionally transitioning into the tech or dating space, but I’ve found that being at Grindr has made my job feel so much more meaningful and helped me feel connected to the people and communities around me. ‍

Tell us why you joined the team at Grindr. What do you love most about your work, our mission, or culture?

There are so many things that I love about being a part of the IT Team at Grindr. Our team works almost entirely in cloud/remote systems (which helped make the company’s transition to a remote-first working environment nearly seamless). This, along with working in a small team, has allowed me the opportunity to manage tools that I otherwise would have never had any access to. The experience I’ve gained over the last few years and the support I’ve received has helped me take on new challenges and grow in my career.

On a personal level, it’s been incredibly rewarding to work alongside such open, knowledgeable, and passionate people. The team at Grindr genuinely cares about the impact that we are making for the LGBTQ community and for each other. Conversations are always engaging and I’ve learned so much about empathy and perseverance from my colleagues. It is something that I have not seen at other companies and one of the reasons that makes me want to be here. ‍

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Give us a little background on the day in the life with your role at Grindr. What areas do you support and how do you collaborate with other functions in the business?

Being in IT has the rewarding dynamic of working alongside all teams within the company at some point or another. Starting from day one, where we support the onboarding of new hires all the way through their ramp-up in the organization. This definitely keeps the day-to-day both challenging and interesting.

One of the great qualities of Grindr’s IT team is the way that we segment and deliver our work. For the most part, our team splits up work into day-to-day support and ongoing projects. We have a role to play in keeping operations running as expected, but our team has also been working dilligently toward automating our workflows to ensure that the other teams at Grindr can continue to run smoothly. This has included learning how to effectively manage projects and reviewing any repetitive tasks or requests we get so we can convert this to our automation system. We view the employees of Grindr as our “users”, and just like our engineers who support the app, we are continually thinking of new ways we can keep things accessible and updated for their needs. ‍

What are your goals for growing your team?

We are excited to grow our team as the company continues to scale. In order to deliver high-quality support, we need to add folks who strike the right balance of keeping things moving while continuing to innovate on the automation piece. The primary qualities that we look for when interviewing are curious individuals who enjoy collaborating and adapting to the company's needs and developing technology. Since our employees are our users, we’re working on elevating their experience, so someone that is curious about or familiar with the tools we use and scripting is a big plus.

The other key piece of success for Grindr is that we continue to bring in folks who truly believe in the work that we are doing. Grindr has become such an important part of our users’ daily lives. Oftentimes people come to Grindr looking for love, sex, friendship, or simply to connect, but even deeper than that, maybe they come to Grindr because they are not able to live as out and open in their daily lives or maybe they do not live in a place with a highly visible queer community, so they turn to us to find that. Hiring folks who celebrate and believe in the mission of Grindr is going to continue to be key to our success.

If you are interested in working as a part of a collaborative team while developing innovative solutions to interesting IT problems, you should consider applying today!      

As a festive Mariah Carey declared atop a Peloton the minute the thermostat went below 50 degrees, the holidays are officially upon us. A time where dark nights are illuminated by Christmas lights, our homes are decorated with wreaths and tinsel, and the coziness of cuffing season proves gays can commit, at least until warmer weather returns.

By now you’ve already seen holiday shopping guides for “28 Best Xmas Sheets To Give Your Partner” or “16 Candles to Gift Friends,” but have you seen '10 Gifts That Would Make Santa Blush"?

Here are the best sex toys and products that’ll help get you on the naughty list.

Du Douche                                            

Let’s be real: all douche bulbs are the same. Some are big, some are small, some are black, some are gray, and some are misplaced when you need them most. The Du is different in that it’s a “thoughtfully redesigned” douche bulb with features that every bottom worth their weight in douche water will appreciate, like a soft and pliable tip so you don’t accidentally stab your hole (been there), a wide mouth for a quick fill (oh, honey!), and an air/water valve to prevent back-flow so you don’t have to remove and reinsert between refills. Finally: a douche designed by bottoms, for bottoms.

Hot Lava Masque by Studioready                                            

If you’re a little bougie when it comes to your booty (and why shouldn’t you be?), you’re going to love the Hot Lava Masque by Studioready. This astringent masque uses glamorous ingredients like white willow bark and finely milled volcanic rock (seriously) to brighten your bum’s skin and minimize blemishes. It’s essentially a 30-minute butt facial, but also like, such a cute way to bond with a partner. One gets their butt rubbed, the other gets to play with a butt. Or you each do both. Throw on some Netflix and a bottle of wine and that’s date night.

Everywhere Balm by Goodparts                                    

Sometimes your butt is a little sore after a good romp. It’s not excruciating, but feels like the dull rawness of an overworked muscle. Well, there’s a balm for that.  Made with high quality ingredients like jojoba oil, papaya seed extract and CBD, Everywhere Balm works to soothe muscles, release tension, calm inflammation and moisturize where it’s applied. As the name suggests, the balm is not only limited to your hole, but this is a Grindr gift guide, after all, and we know where it’s most useful.

Überlube                                            

The reality is that most lubes get sticky after a while and it can feel a little…gross. Due to its high quality and long-lasting silicone formula blended with vitamin E, Uberlube never gets to that point and actually moisturizes the skin. It’s so luxurious that it even comes in a glass bottle (ou la la). The brand insists their product isn’t just for sex, and recommends athletes use it to avoid chafing, as haircare to avoid frizz, and as a sensual massage oil. I kid you not, a man I was having sex with once pointed out how great the brand was and complimented me on my selection. We love a man with taste.

‍Disposable Wash by Future Method                                        

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Tap water, arguably the most common and convenient solution for douching, isn’t ideal because it flushes both the good and bad bacteria out, disrupting the area’s microbiome, which can lead to a host of intestinal issues. Future Method, a wellness booty brand co-founded by anal surgeon Dr. Evan Goldstein, has released a PH-balanced isotonic solution created specifically for douching, which moisturizes your rectum while it cleans and keeps your microbiome perfectly balanced. The washes come in packs of two, six and twelve and are also available as quick dissolve powder packs.

Training Kit and Education Set by bVibe                                            

Bottoming is no easy feat, and too many people have had uncomfortable and painful experiences as a result of inexperience or an overly aggressive top. Something everyone should do whether you’re a beginner, or a little out of practice, is train your anus like you do other muscles in your body. bVibe just so happens to have a kit designed for this exact purpose, complete with a small butt plug, a medium-sized vibrating butt plug, a large weighted butt plug and other useful accessories. The kit is not only ideal for training, but also allows you to explore different sensations. Anybody, no matter your experience level, would benefit from this set.

Intimacy Melts with CBD by Foria                                            

If you find bottoming uncomfortable, CBD melts could be an effective solution for you. These rocket-shaped casts of CBD and cocoa butter are designed to enhance penetration, ease discomfort and increase relaxation, making for a more pleasurable sexual experience. These should be used roughly 30 minutes prior to intercourse so they have time to melt and absorb. They can also be inserted after sex to soothe soreness or muscle fatigue. Each package contains four suppositories, each delivering 50 mg of organic CBD. Speaking personally, these things work and after they’ve absorbed your butt will have the munchies and be hungrier than ever.  

Manta by Fun Factory                                            

If there is one toy I will defend to the end, it is the Manta. This odd-looking toy is one of the more versatile sex toys on the market, excellent for both solo and partnered play. When worn at the base, the Manta turns your penis into a vibrator, and is fantastic for edging when placed just under the head (highly recommend). It’s even handy when giving a blowjob, as it simulates the sensations of deepthroating courtesy of its intense vibrations. If you’re sick of strokers and looking for something different, you will not be disappointed with the Manta. It will change the way you masturbate.

‍The Skwert Douche Adaptor Kit by Bone Yard                                            

Sometimes douche bulbs or showers aren’t easy to come by. Water bottles, on the other hand, often are. That’s what makes this douche adaptor kit so brilliant. I’ve personally found it great for camping and, another bonus: it won’t raise suspicion at the airport. While this product is probably considered less luxe than the others, it had to be included on the list for its convenience and simplicity—think of it more as a stocking stuffer.  

LOKI Wave by LELO                                            

There is no prostate massager quite like the LOKI Wave, which pairs its powerful, dual-motor vibration with a unique “come hither” motion, where one tip stimulates the prostate from the inside, and the other from the outside. It’s a fantastic toy to play with on your own, but I also recommend wearing the LOKI Wave while topping. The toy naturally comes in contact with your prostate as you thrust and the resulting sensation is so intense your knees will buckle. So prepare for impact when you climax, this is a warning.

Customer feedback is vital to our decision-making process at Grindr. On a regular basis, we pull qualitative and quantitative data from customer feedback, content moderation reports, UserVoice, app reviews, social media, and more, to inform what we do as a company.

We want to share with you what we are hearing, and what we’re doing as a result.  

Image Moderation

This quarter, our customer support team fielded some questions about how we moderate profile images. Specifically, we’re hearing from some people who believe there is a discrepancy between when profile images are approved vs. rejected, and are questioning what process we use to approve photos.  

We’ve designed our image moderation system to be as fair and unbiased as possible, while still being efficient enough to approve images quickly. We’re always working to make our process better, more fair and faster, but here’s how we do it right now:

1. When you first upload a profile image, we run it through a Machine Learning system which checks for Community Guidelines violations, such as nudity. (You can read about our other Machine Learning system for text here.)
2. Images that are found to be within our guidelines are approved
3. Any image that is borderline, or probably violates our Community Guidelines, is sent for human review
4. We do not auto-reject borderline photos – every borderline photo gets reviewed by a real person
5. Our team then manually approves or rejects the borderline image
6. When we reject an image, we’ll tell you why
7. If an image is approved that shouldn’t have been, please report that image, and our human review team will take a look
8. Similarly, if you would like to appeal an image rejection, contact our support team

It would be cheaper and more efficient for us to auto-reject photos based on the Machine Learning labeling, in addition to auto-approving, but we don’t do that. We know that it can feel personal when an image is rejected. We want to be as sure as we can that we’re making fair decisions when we don’t allow a photo to be posted.

Specifically, we want to moderate nudity fairly. As an app, we must follow Apple and Google’s guidelines for nudity, yet we still want Grindr to be the expressive, sex-positive place that our community enjoys. We also have many members who are trans and non-binary, and although we have to follow the app stores' guidelines on female nipples, we do not want to reject images based on perceived gender. For this reason, we send potentially nude photos to the human team who review images alongside our user’s self-reported gender when available.

We also must be careful to not allow any images that are pornographic (again: app store rules). The definition of pornography is a difficult one, and you may not agree with where we draw the line, but in general we try to be as permissive as possible while still being allowed on the app stores—after all, we want to ensure that the app remains available to be used. (You can read more here.)

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Finally, we’ve specifically trained our team to look out for personal bias when moderating photos. We address potential bias with race and ethnicity, gender, body hair, body shape or size, age, and more. It’s important to us that our community feels able to express themselves freely and joyfully, and our photo moderation system is designed to support that.

Ban appeals and privacy

Data privacy, access, and control is something that people are becoming more and more concerned about. We think this is a great thing! Grindr has a privacy-by-design philosophy.

We sometimes hear the complaint from a banned user, “I got no explanation for my ban.” However, it’s important to protect the privacy of users who may have reported an issue. We can’t say “you were reported for [X] reason” because that could potentially help the banned user identify who reported them and put the reporting user at risk of retaliation.

This makes some people think we’re “banning for no reason,” but the truth is we can’t share the reason without putting someone else at risk – so we prioritize safety in this particular case over transparency. We’re okay with that tradeoff. (You can read more about why “banning for no reason” makes no business sense in this blog post I wrote last year).

We can never reveal details about someone else’s profile or reports. We’ve written more information about how we investigate and enforce our Community Guidelines here, along with information on our industry-leading ban appeal process.

Grindr’s mission is to connect LGBTQ people with one another and the world. We are committed to making Grindr a place where all members of the LGBTQ community, including the trans community, feel safe and welcome. Working with our users and the community, we will continue to refine and evolve our product so people of all genders and sexualities can find meaningful connections in the world around them.

Over the course of this past year, we have worked with trans experts and advocacy organizations around the world – such as East Africa Trans Health & Advocacy Network and the FTM Vietnam Organization – to expand the options for gender identity terms and pronouns on Grindr. Grindr now provides thoroughly inclusive gender options in all 21 languages in which our app is available, using local terms that are culturally appropriate.

For many years, Grindr offered a customizable text field to enable people of different gender identities to describe themselves. Unfortunately, that feature was used to make jokes and brought transphobia into the app. The changes we are making now enable people to broadly express themselves in a thoughtfully designed manner.

"Finding languages and words (pronouns) that we identify with and use day-to-day on a public platform like a dating app can be immensely reaffirming, especially for people who often face invisibilization. If what is intimate to you is respected, it gives you confidence to put yourself out there and connect with people. Varta Trust fully supports Grindr in its efforts to provide a wider range of gender identity expressions for its users," said Pawan Dhall, Founding Trustee of Varta Trust, another one of our collaborators on this project.

Translating gender across languages and cultures is more difficult than you might think. Here are a few of the key challenges we worked through:

Incongruous pronouns

Many languages use predominantly gender neutral pronouns, so, for example, “he/him/his” and “she/her/hers” don’t easily translate to languages like Swailihi (Yeye/Yeye/yake). Our approach has been to map each term and present options for “masculine”, “feminine”, or “neutral” in those cases, and have those appropriately translated to a pronoun term.

Unclear categories

‍Very few words translate perfectly in general. Some words could either be translations of other concepts, or wholly different concepts in themselves. For example, we worked closely with local groups to understand the femminiello identity – specific to Naples, Italy – and whether it was another word for a trans woman, or whether it was its own category. Ultimately, we determined femminiello is its own category.

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Changing cultural sensitivities

Similarly, we had to make determinations about words that some people consider offensive but other people use. In Indonesia, for example, the term waria has long been used by transfeminine people colloquially but, these days, some trans women scholars have taken issue with the term and moved away from it. In these cases, we deferred to local experts but erred on the side of inclusion, as we know many people attach great importance to these terms as an expression of their sense of self.

Kevin Halim, a trans activist from Indonesia who we partnered with for this project, said: "The evolving terminologies for gender identity used throughout Indonesia reflect the local cultures and the historical struggle for acceptance of non-traditional gender identities. I appreciate Grindr’s efforts to include these varied identities, and hope this initiative helps users better understand and appreciate local context in a deeper way."

We know our current options are not perfect. This will be a living list, changing as identity descriptions evolve. If you think we may have missed a term, there is a link within the app where you can suggest a new term. You can also reach out to [email protected].

We want to make it easier for other products to design for inclusion too. We have put together a toolkit developers can use to make their apps more welcoming and inclusive for the trans community:

• Gender translation whitepaper‍
• Full list of genders we’ve translated

As we look ahead, we welcome the opportunity to continue working with our users, the community, and other partners to foster greater respect and inclusivity within our community and the world. By working together, we hope to ensure people of all genders and sexualities can safely and easily find meaningful connections in the world around them.

We’re excited to announce the launch of Play Safe, a new video series educating users and the broader public about Grindr’s safety policies and practices.

Grindr has a world-class moderation and customer experience team that has made significant investments in user safety on the platform over the past few years. Play Safe is designed to raise awareness of Grindr’s many safety features, and to introduce the Customer Experience team to our users and with people around the world.

The campaign is comprised of quick, fun videos featuring real life members of Grindr’s Customer Experience team alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race icon Kandy Muse, who plays a new hire at Grindr helping to debunk Customer Experience misconceptions, spotlight the work of the Customer Experience team, and make safety issues more approachable and engaging for users.  

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The following safety features are included in the first installment of Play Safe:

• The ability to mute, block, and report bad actors on the app in order to have a safer, better experience. Reports are reviewed 24/7 by a team of human moderators who have been trained on LGBTQ-specific cultural sensitivities and gender-inclusive content moderation.
• Features that allow users to verify each other before meeting up to avoid catfishing, such as audio chatting and video chatting.
• Grindr’s moderation team, which operates with more than 99% accuracy and conducts frequent internal audits to ensure that moderation decisions are as fair and accurate as possible.

Grindr works day-in and day-out to make our app a place where the LGBTQ community can feel safe and supported, because we know that’s not always true of the world at large. Play Safe is the first in a series of videos spotlighting Grindr’s work around user safety and privacy—stay tuned for future episodes.

Ten months ago, we published a blog post outlining our expansion of image rules to include underwear. It was a critical step towards our mission of allowing the Grindr community to express themselves more freely. Today, we are announcing another exciting update to our rules, which includes more butts!

Let’s start with Grindr’s philosophy on image policies. We believe:

• All of our members deserve fair and equal treatment, regardless of gender, body type, or other physical attributes. Anything other than this is discrimination.
• Moderation policies should be clear, easy to understand, and easy to enforce, without much room for interpretation or bias.
• There are many contexts where showing skin is not considered pornographic by the app store policies we’re bound to, even in the context of a dating app.

When creating our rules and guidelines, we concentrated first on ways to remove bias and discrimination from the moderation process as much as possible. We recognize that assessments of how sexual a photo is can be influenced by common gender biases: how much skin someone shows, how much body hair they are expected to have, how the fat on their body is distributed, etc.

In addition to general moderation training, our moderators regularly receive specific training on bias, gender, microaggressions, and discrimination, to help them make as fair and equitable decisions as possible. We also do not take body hair or body type (or, body hair type) into consideration when reviewing photos.

Here are our new guidelines for public profile images

The following is Not Allowed:

• Pornographic images & depictions of sex acts
• Full frontal or graphic nudity

The following is Allowed:

• People of all bodies (all ethnicities, all sizes, all genders, and all identities) expressing their sexuality joyfully
• Underwear photos
• Non-pornographic sexual poses
• Some images of buttocks if they are non-graphic and without an overly sexual context

While we are committed to sex-positivity, and hope that most of our users enjoy the new guidelines, we also know that not everyone is comfortable seeing that extra bit of skin. For those people, we recommend filtering your grid to only show people who have a face photo as their primary image. We hope to have more ways to customize and personalize your experience in the future.

We’ve come a long way with image policies in the last year, and are proud to say that our policies are now more intuitive, inclusive, and less prone to bias. We hope that the vast majority of our users will feel confident in understanding our rules and uploading their photos without fear of the images being rejected. In general, our guidelines are very similar to Instagram and YouTube in terms of what we do and don’t allow.

That said, there will always be images that push the limits of what is clearly allowed, and we do have to draw the line to prohibit what the app stores consider pornography. It’s extremely difficult to accurately define what is and isn’t pornographic. As United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said, “…I know it when I see it.”

We, however, have to define it in a way that is less vague, and so we have set criteria to help our moderators make informed decisions:

• Pose - Is the pose sexually suggestive?
• Context - Is the image in a private, intimate, or sexual setting? Is there more than one person in the image, or props that need to be considered?
• Nudity - Is there a focus on genitals, even if clothed? (Keep in mind that any explicit nudity must be rejected regardless.)

If the image includes sexual content in only one out of the three categories, it is more likely to be acceptable. If it has sexual content in all three, then it should be rejected. If a photo has sexual content in two out of the three categories, it’s an edge case and needs to be evaluated individually, keeping all aspects of the image in mind.

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When determining edge cases or boundary-pushing images, we’ll consider the apparent intent of the image. Of course it’s hard to know exactly what someone hopes to convey when they upload an image to Grindr, but we draw the line between these two scenarios:

• Allowed: Hey, look at me, don’t I look attractive and like you might want to have sex with me some time?
• Not allowed: Hey, I bet this image makes you imagine yourself in this exact scenario with me having sex just like this…

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A note on gender and nudity:

We are working towards gender-inclusive photo rules for our community instead of holding men, women, and nonbinary people to different standards. Unfortunately due to the current app store policies, we must include women’s nipples as a prohibited nudity category in our photo policies. Men and nonbinary people are allowed to show their nipples.

Given the millions of users who use the app every day, we moderate a lot of profile images.  In addition to our (amazing) human moderation team, we do also auto-approve some images that our artificial intelligence system classifies as “definitely not pornography.” This helps our team to focus on those difficult edge cases, and to ensure that any rejected image is done so after careful consideration. That said, both AI and humans can sometimes get things wrong, so you may see images on Grindr that don’t perfectly fit within the rules we’ve outlined above. If that’s the case, we would love for you to let us know by flagging and reporting the profile so our team can take another look.

We hope that explaining the thought process behind our image moderation practices helps you understand what is and isn’t allowed, and why. Our moderation team works hard to help Grindr feel like an inclusive, sex-positive, and fun place to be.

In 2016, after consulting with countless LGBTQ activists, public health officials, and Grindr users, we added the optional HIV status field to give users more choice in the sexual health information they share, as well as more visibility around sexual health information in general. We followed the same process when we added the “vaccinated” tag upon launch of our My Tags feature so that users had more ways to exchange information about how they were managing the COVID-19 epidemic. Today, we are taking the next step in that process, once again following consultation with our public health partners and our own users, many of whom have been choosing to highlight their vaccination status, for multiple vaccines, in the “About Me” section of their profiles.

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That’s why we’re rolling out a vaccination status field which allows users to share whether they’ve accessed shots for COVID-19, monkeypox, and meningitis. COVID-19 has obviously impacted the entire world, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity; monkeypox has had a disproportionate and particular presence in our global queer community; and meningitis has hit our community particularly hard this calendar year, specifically in the US state of Florida.

We strive to provide the tools for Grindr users to have open conversations about their health and optimally communicate with each other about these crucial topics. We're also committed to maintaining our privacy and data security by only using this information to allow users to be transparent with people they meet, and never sharing it with advertising partners. This small addition will move us forward in that mission, while also creating additional pathways for users to learn about these health concerns.

We’re excited to announce a partnership with Spectrum Labs to implement machine learning models for proactively fighting bad actors on our platform. This will be an ongoing project: first we’re focusing on fighting drugs, solicitation, and underage users; then we’ll move to harassment; eventually we hope to build tools that could encourage friendlier behavior and safer interactions.

Spectrum and the Grindr Trust and Safety team are working together to train models carefully, and specifically for our user base, so that they are as accurate and fair as we can make them. Our goal is to implement machine learning with an ethical, human-centered framework that is in our community’s best interest and helps make Grindr a safer, more inclusive place for everyone. Spectrum Labs is a great partner for us – they recently put out a whitepaper on moderation best practices for the LGBTQ+ community – a nice complement to some of our own work.

Historically, Grindr has reviewed potentially illicit text on Grindr through two means: reports from our community and keywording. Reports from our community are crucial, and give us much-needed insight and context, and keywording allows us to detect content proactively, but is also limited – there can be a high number of false positives, terms change quickly, and context can be lost

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Machine learning will help us detect and take action on bad actors and illicit content automatically, which frees up our moderators to concentrate on the nuanced, difficult cases that really need their attention. Our moderators’ mental health is important to us, and this is one step we can take to make their jobs better.

We know that machine learning isn’t perfect, and that’s why we will still operate our industry-leading ban-appeal process, which gives all of our users the right to have a manual human review of any automated decision.

Because it’s important to get this right, we’re going to take our time to implement these models carefully over the next year. This is a big step, and I’m excited for what we’ll be able to do to improve the experience for our users all over the world.

-Alice Hunsberger, VP of Customer Experience | LinkedIn

There is no denying the progress being made toward HIV treatment and prevention. In 2019, the CDC published that an estimated 34,800 new HIV infections occurred in the United States, representing an eight percent decline in new infections from just four years prior.

This decrease was largely due to a significant decline among gay and bisexual men, where new infections dropped 33% in those aged 13 to 24. According to goals projected by the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE), these numbers will continue to drop, with hopes to reduce new HIV infections by at least 75 percent come 2025 and by 90 percent come 2030.

HIV educator, researcher, and advocate Kalob Gossett, believes much of this progress can be attributed to the sustained  increase in PrEP use. “According to the CDC, preliminary data shows that in 2020 about 25% of the 1.2 million people in the U.S. for whom PrEP is recommended were prescribed it, compared to only about three percent in 2015,” he tells Grindr.

PrEP and Antiretroviral Medications

In Gossett’s opinion, the biggest stride we’ve made in the prevention and treatment of  HIV is the confirmation that if a HIV-positive person is undetectable that they cannot transmit the virus to someone else. (Undetectable = Untransmittable.)

“This has allowed HIV-positive people to take back control of their lives and their sex, combats the stigma of having sex with someone who is positive, and gives them a bigger role in HIV prevention,” he says.

This milestone has been made possible by the creation of antiretroviral medications, which became the new standard of HIV care in the mid ‘90s. There are now over 30 antiretroviral medications, which have been categorized into six classes. Each class attacks HIV in a different way with the same objective: to increase T-cells (CD4 cells) and reduce the amount of HIV to undetectable levels (below 200 copies/ml of blood measured).

“HIV is treated with two or three different medications, although those medications can now sometimes be combined into one pill,” Gossett says. “This is because attacking HIV from multiple directions reduces the viral load more quickly, which has been shown to control HIV the best.”

Another leap in HIV treatment came in 2010 when a study confirmed that taking a daily dose of antiretrovirals not only helped those who were HIV-positive, but also could protect people from becoming infected. In 2012, the FDA approved the drug Truvada once a day for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) which, when taken as directed, can lower your risk of contracting HIV to nearly zero.

Nine years later, the injectable drug Apretude (cabotegravir extended-release injectable suspension) was approved by the FDA. The medication is initially given as two injections administered one month apart, and every two months thereafter.

Gossett is hopeful that, in addition to daily pills and injections every two months, we may soon see additional preventative options like weekly pills, anal and vaginal rings, enemas, and more.

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HIV and Race

Despite incredible developments in HIV prevention and treatment, not everyone is equally benefitting from them. According to data published by the CDC in 2019, Black/African American people accounted for 42 percent of new HIV diagnoses and Hispanic Latino people accounted for 29%.

“The reality of a positive HIV test result is terrifying, especially to people of color,” Jacen Zhu, HIV-positive activist and adult actor, tells Grindr. “The stigma faced by Black Gay/Queer person within our community alone leads to lack of access to healthcare, disclosure-phobia and reactionary plans to combat the rising HIV transmissions within our community. It's rough, especially coming from a matriarchal family that suffers the ailments of poverty and being Black. ”

“Thus far, the data shows we are doing a decent job of ensuring white gay men get access to HIV services but clearly what we’re doing isn’t enough for communities of color,” Gossett confirms, adding that communities of color need to be at the forefront of conversations and decisions on new approaches.

For example, you may not know that Black women account for nearly 60% of new HIV infections in US women, yet cisgender women are continually left out of HIV conversations, research studies, marketing of services, and funding opportunities. This means Black women not only experience the barriers of the Black community, but of women as well. “While gay and bisexual men and transgender women need these services, we need to consider everyone in our strategies if we truly want to end the HIV epidemic,” Gossett says.

Despite institutional factors against him, Zhu began proactively attending support groups and welcomed supportive people in his life to empower him and be confident in his HIV status. A wise decision, given research published in 2015 found that support groups are one of many factors that enhance the confidence of people living with HIV. Others being: family support, improved understanding, financial independence, etc.

“When I was diagnosed with HIV things were different, but today, we have advancements in science that support the messaging of Undetectable equals Untransmittble, “ Zhu says. “Personally, I think that's a big win and change for my life and others living with HIV.”

HIV and Porn

In a sex-positive industry such as pornography, one might assume that there is ample support for those living with HIV. But unfortunately, when it comes to bigger studios, that’s not the case.

Understanding that studios will put certain rules and regulations on performers based on their status, award-winning adult actor Brock Banks thinks a lot of them are harsh and outdated, and believes the people fronting these studios could benefit from some education on HIV and prevention.

“Most studios will not pair an undetectable model with a model who is negative, even though undetectable means untransmittable,” he explains. “I will say that the majority of the studios that implement this sort of pairing are straight-owned studios and I think that’s a huge part of the issue.”

However, with the emergence of fan sites like OnlyFans and Just For Fans, it’s become far easier to find informed and enthusiastic performers to film with.

“I don’t have issues finding people who are willing to shoot with me regardless of my status, but I’ve been turned down by a few guys,” Banks says. “And although it’s not a good feeling, I know that it’s not my place to decide what someone else should be ok with when searching for a sexual partner.”

Despite the initial shame he experienced upon his diagnosis 10 years ago, which caused him to avoid sex entirely for over a year, Banks has accomplished things he never thought possible. He’s successful, he’s had incredible sexual experiences, he’s been in healthy and beautiful relationships, and he’s gleaned invaluable insights along the way.

“Being HIV positive changed me forever; it’s made me so strong and fearless and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” he says. “No matter what your status is, what other people think about you is none of your business, so keep your head up and always take care of yourself first.”

Looking to the Future

There are constantly new studies occurring in the realm of HIV, including new medications to determine if they are effective in treating and/or preventing HIV as well as new ways of providing treatment or prevention. While he can’t be sure we’ll ever see a cure, Gossett is confident we will witness HIV evolve from an epidemic to an endemic in our lifetime.

We’ve made substantial progress. In August 2021, Moderna started human trials for a mRNA vaccine that will end in spring 2023. This marks the first HIV vaccine and trial of its kind since all that came before it used an inactivated form of HIV. “Researchers are cautiously optimistic about the outcome of this study, but only time (and data) will tell,” Gossett says.

In the meantime, the best thing we can do as a community is spread the word. “We can empower people to prevent and treat HIV properly by sharing the information needed to take care of themselves,” Gossett says. “Ideally, we could implement an adequate and inclusive sexual health curriculum into our schools, but we all know that is a long shot given the chokehold conservative values have on the United States.”

We should also make an effort to normalize talking about HIV to further destigmatize the subject. You can do this by discussing the last time you got tested, asking your friends if they know about PrEP, and inquiring about the status of sexual partners.

“These conversations can be awkward, but that’s why stigma continues to be so prevalent with HIV and STIs,” Gossett says. “The only way to make the topic less taboo is to have these conversations more often, providing more opportunities for others to learn.”

Journalist Eric Marcus, founder and host of the Making Gay History podcast, has interviewed many queer pioneers in his day, but there’s something special about his interview with trans activist Marsha P. Johnson, a beloved figure in the LGBTQ civil rights movement, and Randy Wicker, one of the most visible gay rights activists of the 1960s.

As part of our Pride series on queer history, Eric has distilled an excerpt of their conversation that focuses on the night of the Stonewall Rebellion. Check out their convo below and listen to the full Making Gay History episode here.

Marsha:  

The way I winded up being at Stonewall that night, I was having a party uptown. And we were all out there and Miss Sylvia Rivera and them were over in the park having a cocktail.

I was uptown and I didn’t get downtown until about two o’clock, because when I got downtown the place was already on fire.  And it was a raid already. The riots had already started.  And they said the police went in there and set the place on fire.  They said the police set it on fire because they originally wanted the Stonewall to close, so they had several raids.  And there was this, uh, Tiffany and, oh, this other drag queen that used to work there in the coat check room and then they had all these bartenders.  And the night before the Stonewall riots started, before they closed the bar, we were all there and we all had to line up against the wall and they was all searching us.

Eric:  

The police were?

Marsha:

Yeah, they searched every single body that came there.  Because, uh, the place was supposed to be closed, and they opened anyway. ‘Cause every time the police came, what they would do, they would take the money from the coat check room and take the money from the bar.  So if they heard the police were coming, they would take all the money and hide it up under the bar in these boxes, out of the register.  And, you know, and sometimes they would hide like under the floor or something?  So when the police got in all they got was the bartender’s tips.

Eric:  

Who went to the Stonewall?

Marsha:  

Well, uh, at first it was just a gay men’s bar.  And they didn’t allow no, uh, women in.  And then they started allowing women in.  And then they let the drag queens in.  I was one of the first drag queens to go to that place.  ‘Cause when we first heard about this…and then they had these drag queens workin’ there.  They didn’t never arrested anybody at the Stonewall.  All they did was line us up and tell us to get out.

Randy:  

Were you one of those that got in the chorus lines and kicked their heels up at the police, like, like Ziegfeld Follies girls or Rockettes?

Marsha:  

Oh, no.  No, we were too busy throwing over cars and screaming in the middle of the street, ‘cause we were so upset ‘cause they closed that place.

Eric:

What were you screaming in the street?

Marsha:  

Huh?

Eric:  

What did you say to the police?

Marsha:  

We just were saying, no more police brutality and, oh, we had enough of police harassment in the Village and other places.  Oh, there was a lot of little chants we used to do in those days.

Eric:  

Now were there lots of people hurt at the Stonewall that night during the riots?

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Marsha:  

They weren’t hurt at the Stonewall.  They were hurt on the streets outside of the Stonewall ‘cause people were throwing bottles and the police were out there with those clubs and things and their helmets on, the riot helmets.

Eric:  

Were you afraid of being arrested?

Marsha:  

Oh, no, because I’d been going to jail for like ten years before the Stonewall I was going to jail ‘cause I was, I was originally up on 42nd Street.  And every time we’d go, you know, like going out to hustle all the time they would just get us and tell us we were under arrest. They’d say, “All yous drag queens under arrest, so we, you know, it was just for wearing a little bit of makeup down 42nd Street.

Eric:  

Who were the kinds of people you met up at 42nd Street when you were hustling up there.

Marsha:  

Oh, this was all these queens from Harlem, from the Bronx.  A lot of them are dead now. I mean, I hardly ever see anybody from those days. But these were like queens from the Bronx and Brooklyn, from New Jersey, where I’m from.  I’m from Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Eric:  

Now you mentioned an organization that…you were involved with.  What was the name?

Marsha:  

Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries with Miss Sylvia Rivera.

Randy:  

STAR.

Eric:  

What was that group about?  What was it for?

Marsha:  

Ah, it was a group for transvestites… men and women transvestites.

Randy:

It was a bunch of flakey, fucked up transvestites living in a hovel and a slum somewhere calling themselves revolutionaries.  That’s what it was in my opinion.  Now Marsha has a different idea.

Eric:  

What’s your opinion?

Marsha:  

Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries started out as a very good group.  It was after Stonewall, they started, they started at GAA.  Mama Jean DeVente, who used to be the marshal for all the parades.  She was the one that talked Sylvia Rivera into leaving GAA, ‘cause Sylvia Rivera who was the president of STAR was a member of GAA, and start a group of her own. And so she started Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.  And she asked me would I come be the vice president of that organization.  The building was owned by Michael Umbers, who was in jail.  And didn’t Michael Umbers, when he went to jail, the city took over the building and they had everybody thrown out. But originally the rent was paid to Michael Umbers who went to jail, and Bubbles Rose Lee, Bubbles Rose Lee, who was secretary to STAR, she had all kinds of things around the building and stuff, you know.  So the city just came and closed the building down.

Curious about Stonewall? Check out these episodes of Making Gay History to learn more.                        

Hello! Today we are launching a new feature globally: Boost. Yes, you saw that right. Boost is now in beta. Not “Boots.” Although … boots!

Grindr Boost places you near the top of nearby users’ grids for up to an hour, allowing you to attract more attention from accounts that are still close by but maybe just out of the usual range. Boost also unlocks your “Viewed Me” list for 24 hours, so you can chat with anyone whose eye you caught.

At the end of the Boost, we'll send you a report with the number of taps, chats, and views you received—a Boost Report, if you will. And if you think you've hit the record for attention in your city, @ us on Twitter with a screenshot of your Boost Report so we can keep tabs on who is the Grindr Supreme.

Tips & Tricks                  

‍Be Photo

Boosters with a photo get far more attention than people who boost without. If you have a photo already, consider updating it before your next Boost session to catch someone's eye.

Be Ready

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While you can purchase a Boost at any time, be advised that it begins at the time of purchase so we recommend using it when you're ready and responsive. This way you'll be able to make the most of the attention. Speaking of attention, if you're looking to get the most taps, chats, and views then definitely boost during the evening or weekends.

Be Free

Staying online and responsive during your Boost will help you get far more attention than if you walk away from your phone. Oh, yeah, if you're an Unlimited subscriber be sure to turn off "incognito" before Boosting or you won't show up at all (don't worry, we'll remind you).

What's Next

We're still testing things out, so things may change—including how we promote your profile, pricing, and promotions for our subscribers. If you have any feedback, be sure to fill out the survey in the upper righthand corner of your Boost Report. Otherwise, check out our help pages for the latest on how Boost works.

Boost. Boots. Boost the house down!

Have fun!

Customer feedback is a vital part of our decision-making process here at Grindr. Our Voice of the Customer program is one way that we stay connected to our customers and their feedback. On a regular basis, we pull qualitative and quantitative data from customer emails, content moderation reports, UserVoice, app reviews, social media, and more.

Of course, our customers are also a key stakeholder, so we want to share with you what we are hearing (and doing to respond) as well.

Low Quality Ads

At the end of March, we saw an increase in the amount of feedback about ads on Grindr, particularly about ads coming to the product from third-party ad networks. The cause of the issue was the result of our migration to a new programmatic ad platform (the old one was sold and shut down). In the early days of the new platform, a number of issues arose, and ad quality was really bad. We have made good progress to address these initial issues, but continue to tune the system to improve ad quality and reduce issues. We have seen a big drop in complaints in the past couple of weeks. That said, we will often show lower quality ads than you may be used to seeing in other apps.

Why is that? First, we make the majority of our revenue from premium subscriptions. But for our free users, we still need to generate enough revenue to pay for the core service. High quality ads rely on “targeting” (ie, providing a lot of data about a user to an advertiser to help them select the best ads to show). But, for more than two years we have pursued the highest data privacy standards for our users. The result is that instead of highly targeted ads, we can only offer highly “untargeted” ads. Only a small number of companies (generally gaming apps) will even bid to show an ad to us given the absence of even industry-basics data from Grindr, such as age, gender, interest or location.

We know low quality ads are frustrating and ugly. They also don’t generate much revenue. We are working on new ways to improve the quality of our free experience, including the quality of ads. But we remain fully committed to maintaining or even increasing our industry-leading privacy practices. In the meantime, if you spot an ad that is particularly problematic or causing performance issues, please let our support team know so we can investigate.

Fewer Ads

In the last two years, one way we worked to reduce the impact of ads on the user experience was to dramatically reduce the number of ads we show. In the last two years, we have reduced the total ads shown to customers by over 50%. We have moved or removed ads that appeared at times that bothered you the most. Most recently, you may have noticed the elimination of the “banner ad” at the bottom of the app. That ad alone accounted for the majority of ads we showed customers, so pulling that ad was the most significant reduction in ads we have ever done. We also removed the full-screen ad that appeared at times after you blocked a profile.

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Bugs and Outages

We know these are a pain, and we’re always working to eliminate bugs and outages. Your bug reports are triaged by a dedicated support team and shared with our Engineers to help them reproduce the error and find solutions. The more information you provide (including screenshots and videos!) the better head start we have in getting things working for you again. One of the metrics we regularly review is a 7-day average of how many of you have had a crash free experience. As of the time of this post, 98% of iOS customers and 99% of Android customers have had a crash free experience this week. We want this number to be at 100%.

Discrimination and Racism

Not acceptable. We’ve heard a number of people in our community tell us about the casual and direct racism and discrimination they’ve experienced on Grindr. Your feedback is clear: you want us to do more to reduce harmful and hateful content. We’re down. We launched in-app warnings for some cases of bullying and harassment to discourage unacceptable behavior before the permanent step of banning. That said, we want to be clear that some cases are so severe and blatant we ban them immediately. We’ll be working on further versions of this warning system in Q2.

We’re also partnering with Spectrum Labs, and starting to use automated systems that identify and remove some content that violates our community guidelines even before it’s reported to us.

Finally, we’d like you to know that our content moderation team is specifically trained on bias, microaggressions, the LGBTQ+ community, and other dynamics that might be unique to our users. We have a newly created internal Escalations Team (that sits within our wider Trust and Safety department) to ensure we handle these situations with the nuance and care they deserve.

Spam and Scams

We hate them, too. We have a dedicated team of engineers, data scientists, and subject matter experts who specialize in fighting spam. In recent months, the team’s work has reduced spam to an all time low, but these efforts are not wars that can be “won.” Instead, it is an ongoing battle for Grindr (and all major internet services). We are increasing our investment here and hope to keep delivering improving results going forward. As we make changes and adjustments, so too do the scammers trying to get around our defenses by creating more elaborate scams.
Some new scams we’ve seen are crypto “investment” scams and blackmail scams to trick you into providing personal information. We have created a Scam Awareness guide so you can recognize red flags. It will take increasing diligence from our community to stay alert, and from the team at Grindr to come up with new ways to stop them before they get to you.