Grindr shuts down its LGBTQ news site, TOWARDS, after 17-month run

Grindr shuts down its LGBTQ news site, TOWARDS, after 17-month run

INSIDE, the web LGBTQ mag owned and operated by gay dating app Grindr, terminated on Tuesday its editorial staff, effortlessly ending the electronic outlet’s 17-month run.

“The business is refocusing its efforts on video and thus, the editorial and social groups were let go this morning,” a statement that is joint several INTO employees said. “We feel that INTO’s closure is just a loss that is tremendous LGBTQ media, journalism, therefore the globe.”

INTO, which established in August 2017, published news articles, op-eds and advice columns geared toward lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, transgender and readers that are queer. The outlet’s journalism won awards from NLGJA (formerly the nationwide Lesbian Gay Journalism Association) therefore the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

“We told stories of transgender prisoners forced to endure treatment that is nightmarish pubs, LGBTQ asylum seekers l king for hope and refuge in the us, and drag queens fighting for space and community in tiny city Tennessee,” the joint declaration continued. “We shared the hopes and joys of this LGBTQ community, our successes and setbacks, and our triumphs and heartaches within a vulnerable political moment.”

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In a statement shared with NBC News, a Grindr spokesperson said the choice to dismiss INTO’s staff was a “strategic change in focus.”

“As with any business that is growing we have to constantly assess what’s best for Grindr. Following a thoughtful and collaborative process, Grindr’s leadership decided to alter INTO’s content mix to depend more heavily on movie,” the spokesperson told NBC Information via e-mail. “With this strategic change in focus, several TOWARDS employees is making the company. This is a difficult decision and one which we usually do not simply take gently. We want to thank these peers for all of their efforts to Grindr and our community.”

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Grindr’s dismissal of INTO’s editorial staff comes just six months after the site posted an account about Grindr President Scott Chen’s comments that are controversial same-sex wedding.

“Some think wedding is between a guy and a lady. I do believe so, t , victoria milan dating however it’s a matter that is personal” Chen wrote on Nov. 26 in a Faceb k post that was translated from Chinese by NBC News. “Some individuals think the goal of marriage is get own biological kids. It’s a personal matter, t .”

Chen, who has been an executive at Grindr since Chinese video gaming company Kunlun acquired the application in 2017, shot right back at INTO’s story, saying it t k his marriage remarks away from context.

Chen’s remarks, nevertheless, led to at least one executive leaving the ongoing company in protest. A couple of weeks after INTO reported on Chen’s controversial comments, the company’s then mind of communications, Landon Rafe Zumwalt, stepped down.

“As an out and proud gay guy madly in deep love with a man we don’t deserve, I refused to compromise personal values or professional integrity to protect a declaration that goes against everything I am and every thing we believe,” Zumwalt wrote on Medium .

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When expected on Tuesday in regards to the layoffs of INTO’s editorial staff, Zumwalt said he was perhaps not surprised and called it “extremely sad for the queer community.” When asked whether he thought the closing might be linked to the b k of a article critical of Grindr’s president, Zumwalt said “no comment.”

INTO’s managing that is former, Zach Stafford, left the organization last thirty days, per week after Zumwalt, but Stafford would not make any general public commentary regarding whether Chen’s Twitter post influenced his decision to part ways because of the company.

Tim Fitzsimons is a reporter for NBC Information. he/him

Br ke Sopelsa may be the editorial manager of NBC Out, NBC Information’ LGBTQ destination that is digital.