A fan of Lebanese alternative rock band Mashrou’ Leila holds a rainbow flag during their concert at the Ehdeniyat International Festival in Ehden town, Lebanon on August 12, 2017. While we celebrate certain advancements in the fight for LGBTQ rights around the world, we must never become complacent. Currently there are millions at risk of torture, imprisonment and death simply being who they are. Queer people across the world must stay vigilant and aware so that we can protect ourselves and others.
Best Gay App That Hetero Folks Also Use
Security forces questioned her about her private life, her sex-reassignment surgery and her relationship with other activists, she said. The app is free to use, but if you upgrade to a Majestic membership, you can see who has liked you, add private pictures visible only to your matches, and access more extensive privacy options. Feeld is a great app for people who are still trying to explore their sexuality and aren’t 100 percent sure what they want. Remember when Bumble announced it would let users filter matches by their zodiac sign? The creators at NUiT know that, for many, birth charts can be a wildly helpful tool in maneuvering the dating world by predicting how well you’d mesh with someone in aspects like argument stye or the importance of sex. NUiT also accounts for the nuances in different combinations of placements outside of sun signs.
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Users of gay dating apps like Grindr and Hornet are at risk of entrapment in countries like Egypt where police seek to crack down on LGBT citizens, The Verge reports. As the user base of over 4 million grows, HER could widen your dating pool beyond the queer women you already know. The traditional text bio is where you can describe what kind of relationship you’re seeking or flex your wit, though people are much more click here selective with words here than most on Tinder. Joining niche groups like «newly out» or «travelers» can also connect you with people using the app for similar reasons. Egypt, though it technically does not outlaw homosexuality, frequently prosecutes members of the LGBTQ+ community on the grounds of ‘debauchery,’ or ‘violating public decency.’ In 2017, it arrested seven for raising a rainbow flag at a rock concert.
Nevertheless, even a single case is deeply disturbing and a precedent attacking a safe space we have created online for gay people to meet, learn about health tips and allow self-expression. Furthermore, the press is used to further attack these arrested gay men by publishing their names and addresses. In many cases, the evidence used against these citizens could be something as commonplace as possession of a condom—seen as proof of gay sexual behavior, even though in Egypt you can buy a condom at any pharmacy. Egypt is rich in history and is home to a 100 million people with large gay population. Over the last two months, Egyptian authorities have targeted LGBTQ people in a wave of arrests and violence. “Undercover police agents use the applications to set up meetings with gays in cafes.
Given the high risks faced by individual users in the Middle East and North Africa, the obligation to implement these recommendations should outweigh any financial or resourcing concerns. Not only do these recommendations enable companies to fulfil their responsibility to protect users, they allow them to build trust and secure their user base. As evidenced by our research, users consider security as a key factor when choosing apps. We found that many dating and messaging apps used by LGBTQ people in the region lack fundamental security features and knowledge of the contexts they are operating in.
Of the 15, eight said police subjected them to sexual violence, four claimed to have been denied medical care and eight said that police forced them to sign confessions, often without being allowed to read the statements before signing. Egyptian police and the country’s National Security Agency have allegedly used social media to entrap suspected LGBTQ people, place false charges against them and indefinitely detain them while subjecting them to physical abuse, rape and medical neglect. The specific demographic positions Lex to offer a more peaceful experience than «everyone» apps like Tinder and Bumble, but the way it goes about introducing users is another level of niche.
This, in many ways, is to also distract from the true everyday political troubles in Egypt, from security to high inflation. “The police aren’t just targeting well-known gay hangouts, they are increasingly raiding homes when they think there is an LGBT party going on. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the GooglePrivacy noticeandTerms of serviceapply.
The Egyptian government has spoken publicly about its use of online surveillance to target what it described as «homosexual gatherings». In some of the transcripts, the police appear to be trying to pressure people who seem to be simply seeking dates or new friendships into agreeing to sex for money. Legal experts in Egypt tell us that proving there has been an exchange of money, or an offer of one, can give the authorities the ammunition they need to take a case to court. We have not received many reports from users that make us think that the security online is worse than before,” said Howell. Since then nearly 70 people have been arrested, and more than 20 have been handed sentences ranging from six months to six years, according to Dalia Abdel Hameed of the rights group Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights . Those arrested are subjected to anal examinations to determine whether they have had gay sex, which rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say amounts to torture.
“So many guys will get on Grindr who have never told anyone they’re gay,” says Jack Harrison-Quintana, the director of Grindr’s social-good division, Grindr For Equality. Once we start messaging them, it creates more of a network.” Harrison-Quintana’s first major project saw Grindr pushing out messages to Syrian refugee arrival areas in Europe, telling new arrivals about LGBTQ resources in the area. Once he saw how powerful the geo-targeted messages could be, he started looking for more places to use them. A 27-year-old transgender man names Hossam Ahmed said he was starved and denied medical care in a women’s jail while being forced to sleep on a moldy mattress infested with fleas, bugs and lice.
Marking that you only want to see men or only want to see women doesn’t guarantee that a straight person won’t slip through the cracks of your feed. It’s also a breeding ground for unicorn hunters, as well as male trolls who submit false complaint reports about trans women on the app. Tinder also has a history of frivolously banning users who change their gender identity or support Black Lives Matter. We don’t publicize our sexuality, and we have the added bonus of looking enough alike that people often assume we’re related. When they ask if we’re brothers (or sometimes even twins!), we now just nod and say yes.
He was taken to the Forensic Authority, where doctors examined his anus for signs of sexual activity, but there was still no real evidence of a crime. After three weeks, he was convicted of crimes related to debauchery and sentenced to a year in prison. But Firas’ lawyer was able to appeal the conviction, overturning it six weeks later. Police kept him locked up for two weeks after that, refusing to allow visitors and even denying that he was in custody. Eventually, the authorities offered him an informal deportation — a chance to leave the country, in exchange for signing away his asylum rights and paying for the ticket himself.
In 2014, the app also warned users from revealing their identities following the arrest of a number of suspected individuals. «It will make people take more precautions … we know that the police are under pressure to arrest people and they are going about doing that through all the avenues that they have,» Jack Harrison-Quintana, a director at Grindr, told Reuters. «I have been suffering from depression after what happened, with the videos circulating to all my friends in Egypt. I don’t go out, and I don’t have a phone.
A Bumble profile lets you write a bio, answer prompts, include up to six photos, fill out basic info like your job and education, and add flags indicating factors like what type of relationship you’re looking for and whether you want kids. Plus, you can connect Spotify to let people see what you’ve been jamming out to. Of the 50 million people who use Tinder monthly, not all are straight dudes holding up fish. That’s not to say it’s not for relationships — a lot of men meet their forever person on Grindr — but on the surface, it’s a tool for quick, casual encounters.
He says the pictures are proof that he was framed, because the legs in the picture do not resemble his own – one of his legs is bigger than the other. The BBC has only had access to grainy photocopied police case files, so it cannot independently verify this detail. One policeman stubbed a cigarette out on his arm, he told me, showing me the scar.