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The earliest queer dating platform, PlanetRomeo PR , launched worldwide in , and continues to be an online community for gay men.
You can see profiles of men from different countries, and chat with them. Even Grindr, with 10 million users worldwide, recorded a gradual increase from 11, to 69, monthly users between and from India source: newsminute.
The figures convinced Scruff, an American dating app for men, to further its efforts in India in July this year, by emphasising on their app-based services. But in a country where homophobia is rampant, and homosexual acts are a criminal offence as declared by the Supreme Court in , are dating apps really encouraging the LGBTQ cause?
Also read: Dummies guide to Pride Parade: What it is and you should attend it. Traditionally, the stigma of being gay has offered limited opportunities to seek companionship the way straight individuals do. It featured a section where gay men could invite potential partners to write letters to them.
Online interaction ensured a degree of privacy and anonymity: there was no mandate to upload a display picture, or reveal your real name. By the late s, when smartphones became accessible and affordable, apps like Grindr launched in continued to provide anonymity: one can sign up with a faceless profile, and meet new people. Scruff, too, has been available in India since , with a user base of 10, Why, then, did they feel the need to officiate their presence?
But while dating apps provide an avenue for queer individuals to network, they also inadvertently facilitate access to their identities.
In India, this lack of security comes at a big cost. Eventually, a lawsuit was slapped on the channel by the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, but the damage was done source: gaysifamily.
Queer men and women are also targeted for extortions, and physical abuse. Do the apps have any contingency plan to counter abuse?
Unfortunately, no. The only option is to flag suspicious profiles, like you report a nasty post on Facebook. Even then, there is no guarantee of assertive action. Yet, the community continues to chase a sense of hope for inclusion on social media, as access to other queer individuals helps cope with the stigma. Consequently, alternative forums are cropping up for queer individuals to meet each other.
For instance, Amour , a Facebook page that launched in June, this year, functions as a matchmaking platform and ensures absolute anonymity to its users. Once approved, users are provided an identification number, which they can use until they are comfortable revealing their name.
And while there is no saying when the world might rid itself of homophobia, queer individuals finding companionship, acceptance and love is definitely a positive start towards inclusion. Caring educated Vers need vers or bottom. Anush Dehradun, Uttarakhand, IN. Nikhilesh Dehradun, Uttarakhand, IN. M a gud guy. Arvo Dehradun, Uttarakhand, IN. Raj Dehradun, Uttarakhand, IN. I am a boy Only sex. Am alone fuck me n u.
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