Why I’m suing Grindr over racism
Sinakhone Keodara plans to sue Grindr over countless incidents of racism he has experienced from fellow users on the dating app.
Keodara, a 44-year-old gay Asian man, told PinkNews he has been using Grindr “on and off for several years” and has grown tired of the messages he receives from app users and racial preferences stated in profiles.
Keodara’s claims follow a long-held discussion around racism on Grindr. Queer pop star MNEK recently spoke out about the app’s launch of a Kindr version.
“My experiences have been pretty harrowing,” Keodara explained, after receiving a message the previous day asking: “How hung can an Asian be?”
“That really hurt, I’ve never forgotten that,” he told PinkNews. “It wouldn’t leave my mind that I’m paying $14.99 for this service and why do I have to pay for my own oppression and Grindr is complicit in being a breeding ground that perpetuates racism against gay Asian men?”
Keodara, founder and CEO of Asian Entertainment Television, said he regularly sees profiles stating “Not interested in Asians” and “No beans, no rice, no chocolate.”
He plans to sue the tech giant in the hope it will limit the amount of racist messages he is able to receive and will prevent users from being able to state racial preferences in their profiles.
“I’m suing Grindr because they’ve been a breeding ground, perpetuating racism against Asian people, against black people, against Latino, against Native American—you name it,” he explained.
Sinakhone Keodara plans to sue Grindr (Sinakhone Keodara)
“It’s got to stop. They’ve been allowing this to happen, they’ve been turning the other cheek, for as long as they’ve been in existence.
“I hope the court will order Grindr to redesign their app to eliminate the ethnicity filter on their app that gives users the ability to exclude people based on race.
One of the messages Keodora has received (Sinakhone Keodara)
“This I believe reaffirms racist belief and encourages racist action giving racist gay white men the ability to discriminate against, not just gay Asian men, but against LGBTQ people of colour in general.
Keodara wants Grindr to take action (Sinakhone Keodara)
“I also want the court to order Grindr to institute a software that monitors and censors racist language in user profiles and chats globally. It’s doable.”
Grindr did not respond to PinkNews’ request for comment.
