It’s safe to say the past week has been more troubling than usual for the transgender community. But while the United States’s President-elect hasn’t done much to ensure the safety of already vulnerable groups in the (currently all too real) world, trans people can at least feel safe on Tinder. The app has just introduced 37 new gender options in a move that swipes a hard left on the gender binary. While people were previously allowed the option of selecting only “male” or “female,” the new update is inclusive of identities including trans man, trans woman, transfeminine, transmasculine, agender, pangender, bigender, and gender-nonconforming.
While timed to coincide with Transgender Awareness Week, this hasn’t been an overnight decision. Tinder has been heavily criticized in the past not just for conforming to the binary but for turning a blind eye to users being reported for expressing their true identity. CEO Sean Rad admitted the app’s inadequacy earlier this year while addressing calls for his app to be more inclusive, and appears to have taken much of the criticism on board while spearheading the inclusive expansion.
“No one will ever be banned from Tinder because of their gender,” Rad announced in a blog update today. “We haven’t had the right tools to serve our diverse community in the past, but that changes today. In addition to this new feature, we are learning to be a better ally to transgender and gender non-conforming communities by allocating additional resources to our support team, which includes educating our staff about the challenges facing these communities.”
Building a more progressive community is rarely a one-man job, and this is hardly an exception. Tinder has partnered not just with GLAAD but with a bunch of trans and gender-nonconforming consultants including Slay Model Management signee Ren (female), actor/DJ Munroe Bergdorf (trans female), Transparent producer Zackary Drucker (trans woman), and makeup artist Bradley Miller (male — for now). Check out their stories below and look forward to more genders rolling out in the U.S., U.K., and Canada in the coming months.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Tinder