Scruff and Jack'd follow Grindr in removing race-based search filters

[andy]

Gay mobile dating apps Scruff and Jack’d are to follow the exmaple of Grindr in removing their race-based search filters.

Perry Street Software, the parent company that owns both Scruff and Jack’d, released a statement on Tuesday via Scruff’s Twitter account. The company also said it would make donations to advocacy groups Color of Change and to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute in solidarity with the ongoing protests against police brutality around the United States.

"We stand in solidarity with the fight against systemic racism and historic oppression of the Black community," the statement began. "Black Lives Matter."

“Our community is no stranger to fighting a status quo that tells us we don’t matter”, the statement read. “In the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other Black Americans, to be silent is to be complicit. We recognize that awareness is no substitute for action, and so we call on our community to do what it does best: organize, fight oppression and create change.”

“We commit to continue to make product improvements that address racism and unconscious bias across our apps. In 2018 we removed ethnicity as a default display option on profiles; we will soon be making further changes to make sure ethnicity is not searchable.”

Grindr, Scruff and Jack’d have previously come under fire in the wake of the nationwide protests for allowing users to sort potential dates by race. Critics point out that eliminating or preferring entire groups of people based on ethnicity fosters and systemizes racism both inside and outside the queer community.

[Emiliano]

I think we all know what a shit show this topic is. 

It's a nice idea, but I think this is one of the more performative displays of "we're all against racism" that I've seen in the past few weeks.

[InbetweenDreams]

I think we all know what a shit show this topic is. 

It's a nice idea, but I think this is one of the more performative displays of "we're all against racism" that I've seen in the past few weeks.

You mean they're just joining the band wagon sort to speak? I would agree and that they're also a little late to the party.


That being said, it is the right thing to do.

[Emiliano]

I think we all know what a shit show this topic is. 

It's a nice idea, but I think this is one of the more performative displays of "we're all against racism" that I've seen in the past few weeks.

You mean they're just joining the band wagon sort to speak? I would agree and that they're also a little late to the party.


That being said, it is the right thing to do.

Yeah, in some ways. But it's kind of like racism is this mold that's been growing in our home for a long time. And its deep within the walls and the ceilings. And when it finally starts to appear on the surface, and most everyone in the house is finally like oh shit, we have mold - this seems a bit like someone offering to paint the walls a fresh new color. So yeah it looks like we are doing something, the walls look clean. They're not actively spreading the mold or huffing it, mixing it in their coffee or anything, and the house looks nice and we can all feel better about this pretty new paint we got on the walls. But that shits still there.

It has to be addressed in a deeper manner than just what we can do on the surface to make it seem like we care. Taking away the ability to search by race on a gay dating app, is not going to suddenly erase the issue of racism in the gay community. But it's a nice gesture, sure. Is it a good first step? I don't know, maybe? Do I have solutions? No. Am I part of the problem? Yes.

I said it on another thread on here recently, but I am just really trying to be a more positive person, and not getting into heated arguments over the internet, or in person, anymore. But I've had plenty of them in the past on topics like this, and its just something that a lot people are either unable or unwilling to see how their preferences are very much socially influenced. I have to smile thinking about a particularly absurd argument I had with someone on this site years ago about this.

After all, it's important to take a moment to smile with everything going on in the world.

---

Lol I write that like I'm really putting it on Grindr to solve all of our problems for us.

[InbetweenDreams]

Yeah, in some ways. But it's kind of like racism is this mold that's been growing in our home for a long time. And its deep within the walls and the ceilings. And when it finally starts to appear on the surface, and most everyone in the house is finally like oh shit, we have mold - this seems a bit like someone offering to paint the walls a fresh new color. So yeah it looks like we are doing something, the walls look clean. They're not actively spreading the mold or huffing it, mixing it in their coffee or anything, and the house looks nice and we can all feel better about this pretty new paint we got on the walls. But that shits still there.

It has to be addressed in a deeper manner than just what we can do on the surface to make it seem like we care. Taking away the ability to search by race on a gay dating app, is not going to suddenly erase the issue of racism in the gay community. But it's a nice gesture, sure. Is it a good first step? I don't know, maybe? Do I have solutions? No. Am I part of the problem? Yes.

Yep, the racism doesn't go away, hasn't gone away with anything else done in the past but it has got a lot better. I don't know ultimately how to fix racism as whole either. While things look like they're pretty bad, I do think we have and are making progress.

[Emiliano]

Yeah, in some ways. But it's kind of like racism is this mold that's been growing in our home for a long time. And its deep within the walls and the ceilings. And when it finally starts to appear on the surface, and most everyone in the house is finally like oh shit, we have mold - this seems a bit like someone offering to paint the walls a fresh new color. So yeah it looks like we are doing something, the walls look clean. They're not actively spreading the mold or huffing it, mixing it in their coffee or anything, and the house looks nice and we can all feel better about this pretty new paint we got on the walls. But that shits still there.

It has to be addressed in a deeper manner than just what we can do on the surface to make it seem like we care. Taking away the ability to search by race on a gay dating app, is not going to suddenly erase the issue of racism in the gay community. But it's a nice gesture, sure. Is it a good first step? I don't know, maybe? Do I have solutions? No. Am I part of the problem? Yes.

Yep, the racism doesn't go away, hasn't gone away with anything else done in the past but it has got a lot better. I don't know ultimately how to fix racism as whole either. While things look like they're pretty bad, I do think we have and are making progress.

Yeah. I'm no optimist, that's for sure. But all I can do is hope that something meaningful comes from this. And do what I can to do my part too.

[InbetweenDreams]

@"Emiliano" we live in a world bombarded with negativity. It is hard to be optimistic, that is for damn sure lol.

What has given me hope is seeing 450+ people show up for a peaceful BLM protest in a very conservative small southern town of about 2,300 or whatever the population is. It was organized by high school students who inside of a week put all this together. Less than 30 years ago the KKK paraded through a neighboring town because a black kid on the football team was dating a white girl. Today, those people who were caught counter protesting, posting racist crap on social media lost their jobs, locally that is. More needs to be accomplished, but a lot of progress has been made. I was surprised to read that the town made the Charlotte newspaper on the BLM protest.

[LJay]

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

from Lao Tzu, I think