“Yes they are being racist some of them.

I get I hate foreigners. I only like Koreans, no foreigners.

I hate fat guys okd guys. One guy wrote, if you are old, don’t message, go kill yourself“

Hate speech is it’s own category in reporting/blocking.

Now we’re moving to “sometimes”.

How are you so naive that you don’t realize these filters do nothing to incite racist, hateful comments?

After getting the same nude barrage sent to my phone by someone I’ve blocked multiple times, they just make new accounts and don’t care if they’re creeping you out.

So filters either keep us “racists” from being instigated in the first place. Or they keep the same people who refuse to take no for an answer from harassing us to begin with. Dev does temporary bans at most.

So if it’s the 9th times this year you’ve made a new account to contact me, as if “sorry not interested” wasn’t enough now I’m the racist for telling them to go ****** die?

Just an example. It’s a privacy issue and makes the app much more enjoyable, with far less bs racist comments because people can have preferences, and then not be messaged by people who fall outside that.

I don’t go texting my straight guy friends hitting on them. I keep to myself mostly.

You lose the right to message people if you don’t have your basics listed. Ethnicity, body type and age. They’re not racist for not being interested now that your lie is out in the open.

You need to fill out your profile. It’s a dating app not a free porn site account membership. Just the basics. One picture helps too.

Sounds to me like most of you against this went *looking* to piss people off and accuse them of being racist.

Irony is if the filters still existed you wouldn’t even be able to see their profiles.

Yes they are being racist some of them.

I get I hate foreigners. I only like Koreans, no foreigners.

I hate fat guys okd guys. One guy wrote, if you are old, don’t message, go kill yourself

“ You all are entitled to your opinions on your own preferences. But that is just what they are....opinions. Based upon some of the logic here, there should not be any filters as filters are discriminating based upon whatever factor it is designed to filter. As someone who has previously paid for Unlimited, I have not renewed my subscription until I find value of some of these features including these filters including ethnicity as well as some others being discussed. Failing to implement these filters in a timely manner will show that Grindr does not value its paying customers who will then decide to possibly look at other alternatives.”

So you’ve never used another dating app online then? Because filters are NEVER going anywhere. Grindr got rid of a function that every. Single. Dating app has.

Anyone against this must be withholding their ethnicity by intentionally not having detailed profiles.

Why? Because no ones paying $40 a month to advertise a “mystery”!

In the real world our eyes are our filters. There aren’t people walking around in black sheets asking you for your d size and for more pics.

Even tinder allows you to be open about where you are in the spectrum. If you refuse to have a profile then guess how often you get matched?

Either never or only by desperate people. I’m so sick of clicking one of the many blank, or might as well be blank, profiles only to either have no ethnicity listed or no stats. Not even what they’re looking for.

With the filters I actually spent more than 10 minutes on the app before logging out. Why?

Because I know what I’m into, it’s not racist and if you think so you’re both a sexist and a sociopath. Or really uneducated when it comes to dating.

So let that be your problem and let me pursue what I want. You have your choices still. If that’s so bad go join Tinder or Scruff and watch how the world should work.

I see a lot of complaints about how retarded or petty removing f a category filter (based on something that never existed until the Euro colonization of the New World), but yet they don't seem to see it's even more petty that to make it a big issue

Bring it the fuck back it’s none of your business which race I choose!

I can certainly see where someone might see this as racist however I would ask that person or persons to sleep with a white, black, Asian, middle eastern guy. Do you prefer one over the other? If not, you are aware of a human beings attraction to things? A guy might like big breasts or a hairy body? Why? We don’t know why? The human race has yet to discover the intricate processes of the brain that explain physical attraction. Race is one category and although, yes, some people might prefer or not prefer a person of a certain ethnicity because of ignorance which is taught or a product of their environment, but to say that everyone who has an ethnicity preference is racist insulting and frankly exhibiting the very behavior you seek to condemn. Taking the filter off is ultimately limiting my convenience to choose abd be more proficient in my search, I’ll go where I can use one. If you are so hurt by the filter being there and used by persons if whom you know nothing, get over it! People like what they like, and there are people out there that will search for someone just like you, but someone who loves themselves and knows that everyone has differences and accepts the fact that those differences have nothing to do with you or your race.

This is the most hurtful thread to read. I question the upbringing of these people justifying the need for a racist filter. Nothing is stopping you all from continuing to be racist, you still have a choice to block POCs or ignore them. You don’t need a filter for that. Adding this filter only makes it easier to enable racists. The world questions our sexual liberation anyway as queer folk. They don’t need to also start seeing us as a community that enables racism. Race based exclusion is not a preference, you lack exposure and education. The onus is on you all to educate yourself. Not others to enable your behaviour that stems from what you all lack.

Please allow us to filter by country-of-origin! I live near the Canadian border, which has been closed for a year now. And 90% of my grid is comprised of Canadians. It's making my Grindr useless...

Anyone who thinks being able to filter by race is "racist" is a damn idiot. Using this theory, everyone should be attracted to everyone else then. No need to pick a type! Everyone's your type! Yay! Old is attracted to young. Young is attracted to old. Short is attracted to tall. Tall is attracted to short. Skinny is attracted to fat. Fat is attracted to skinny. Tops are bottoms. Bottoms are tops. It's a damn grab ass fest out there!

Removing the ethnicity filter was fuckin retarded. It wasn’t hurting anyone nor was it “racist” ... I now have to literally block every dude that’s not my preference. So rather than just being able to click one button that filtered out everyone except black men (which is in no way discriminatory) I have to systematically tell everyone else to Fuck off by blocking.

Removing this filter makes it harder for me to find and connect with POC

New ethnicity filter

I suspect that you now realize you overreacted by removing the Ethnicity Filter back when BLM was the new rage. As the existence of an Ethnicity Filter is no different than having a ‘Chinese’ or ‘Italian’ filter on Yelp or OpenTable... it’s what you’re in the mood for, nothing more.
Please restore this option as I am hesitant to continue my premium subscription unless you reverse this ‘at the time’ vogue decision.
Thank you.

You all are entitled to your opinions on your own preferences. But that is just what they are....opinions. Based upon some of the logic here, there should not be any filters as filters are discriminating based upon whatever factor it is designed to filter. As someone who has previously paid for Unlimited, I have not renewed my subscription until I find value of some of these features including these filters including ethnicity as well as some others being discussed. Failing to implement these filters in a timely manner will show that Grindr does not value its paying customers who will then decide to possibly look at other alternatives.

I’m curious, why someone would not want to date outside of their own race... that doesn’t eventually boil down to some form of bigotry.

If you have a preference or a subconscious filter to what you think is attractive, when it relates to race, then it is absolute bigotry. You’re basically saying that you can’t find a single person of that race attractive and therefore choose to discriminate by preference to filter an ENTIRE race. That right there is small minded thinking and we really have started to evolve from that, so please keep up.

If you actually got rid of it as a statement against racism - u believable. An individual’s sexual preferences, what they are attracted to isn’t a choice anymore than being straight or gay is a choice. Bring it back please.

Regardless, he's right. Preference for certain body features than can be attributed to one's ethnicity is not racism. It's called attraction!

No.

This is thinly veiled racism. Learn to build the bridge and get over your fear of difference.

A lot comments here saying “I only date <ethnicity>“

Ethnicity has no impact on a personality or even how great they are in bed... and frankly I’ve already made my mind up about what shit awful personality you have if you have “just a preference”.

I’m a white guy and even I think you should keep your preferences to yourself.

All ethnicities are beautiful.

Please forward this email to the person/team who made the decision to remove the ethnicity filter from the app.

The purpose of my letter is to request the ethnicity filter be reinstated by presenting a viewpoint that perhaps wasn’t considered when the initial decision was taken to remove the filter.

My understanding of the rationale behind the removal of the ethnicity filter was a well intended act in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and racial equity in general. I applaud the position Grindr took as a corporate citizen, however despite the decision being well intended, I believe it to be flawed in what it achieves practically.

I am a paid member, which grants me the opportunity to view a larger number of profiles as well as filter groupings of profiles that don’t happen to be ones that I don’t happen to be sexually attracted to. For me, and I realize that there is the potential for others to use the filter differently, I use it so as to maximize the number of potential profiles that fall within the characteristics that I just happen to be attracted to. I don’t use it to remove those who I am offended/disgusted/racially biased towards etc. and again I realize that there are those people who do. As a result of the removal of the ethnicity filter, I am now scrolling through numbers of profiles that I wouldn’t normally see, nor would choose to message. However what are the other results that have been created due to removing the filter?

Besides scrolling through additional profiles that I am aware that I’m not attracted to, there are also profiles with which I’m not sure of their ethnicity. So what happens in those cases? Well if I message someone and they message me back (eventually) with a face picture of themselves and I’m not attracted to their ethnicity (and here I must defend myself because it is not a conscious biased choice anymore than is my dislike of broccoli. They are both just something I don’t have an attraction to but in no way does that mean I’m going to discriminate against broccoli or treat broccoli poorly or less than an ear of corn for example. I just don’t happen to have a taste for broccoli. In a grocery store I don’t go to the broccoli section, I filter it out, but with no malice to the broccoli it’s just not my thing). So getting back to receiving a picture from someone who I thought might have fallen into one ethnicity but was actually another and now I am put in the position to essentially reject them. (Fortunately given the fact that I’m not a revolting human being, I politely explain that sadly they are not my type, not going into detail of course, and I wish them good luck. But think of all the different ways that that could go wrong given a different person’s view of other groups of people. So then the recipient is subjected to vile behaviour for no other reason than being there ethnicity. Had the filter still been in place that person wouldn’t have a come across that other persons profile and the exchange never would have taken place thus sparing the recipient the sender’s vitriol.)

I also have a feeling that part of the rationale for the filter removal was that if all ethnicities are visible this will somehow temper peoples’ racism by way of exposure instead of using the filter and falling under the ‘out of sight out of mind’ mentality rendering them invisible ergo unimportant etc. but I would be hard-pressed to believe that. As if someone who holds the mentality that one ethnicity is somehow inferior to another, is somehow going to be swayed by seeing thumbnail body parts/profiles of these other ethnicities and suddenly have a revelation that makes them no longer racially biased/racist. Not happening.
So other than the symbolic gesture of removing the filter, what is the practical benefit of doing so, if there was one? Don’t get me wrong I think it’s a lovely gesture of solidarity but what is the lesson are you trying to impart to your users, and are they getting that message by doing so?

Sadly I don’t think so and all it’s really been achieved is other problems. Therefore I would ask that you put the ethnicity filter back into use please and Look for a better alternative for supporting ethnic and racial equality.
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
A well-meaning and frustrated customer

PS And by no means am I equating any of the other characteristics that can be filtered on Grindr to the significance of ethnicity and racism given the current climate, but by removing the ethnicity filter it opens the door to a conversation regarding filters for weight, height, body type, and age. Just a thought :-)

PPS Please acknowledge reception of this email and I would appreciate a considered response from the person/team who took the decision to remove the filter. Thank you.

@tariano I don’t believe they took it away to make money bc they don’t offer it on the UNLIMITED version either, or at least they took it away for a while. They actually got rid of the ethnicity feature at the rise of BLM and I’m sure it was to save there asses or veer far from any sort of racial issue to be conflicted during our treacherous times of 2020..

Grindr, it’s all good bring it BACK! It’s too damn hard weeding out what we’re not sexually interested in. Thanks