National, 18th June 2020: Tinder, the world’s most popular app for meeting new people, introduces The Museum of Queer Swipe Stories in partnership with Gaysi Family, to showcase LGBTQIA+ Swipe Stories. The Museum of Queer Swipe Stories, launched early this year, is a curated archival project that seeks to collect the many moods, experiences, and complexities of queer dating. Tinder believes the chance of an epic connection is a Swipe away, and that everyone has a swipe story. Stories of people you’ve met, friendships you’ve created, hearts that have broken and experiences you’ll always remember. 

Tinder is always working to make it easier to connect with new people and to create a place where people everywhere can be who they are, and love who they love. We have consistently made strides towards bettering the product experience by expanding gender identities to be more inclusive for everyone, introducing sexual orientation so members have more say in how potential matches are ordered and Traveller alert which appears when the app is opened in countries that have laws criminalising LGBTQIA+ status. 

We are continuously making changes and improvements to help all members feel recognized and welcomed on our platform, and one of these steps include using our platform to tell real stories from all members of the community. 

Taru Kapoor, GM-India, Tinder, and Match Group on the collaboration with Gaysi Family, “Through our work on the Tinder experience, partnering with Gaysi and the diversity of Queer Swipe Stories we continue to collect, we’ve learned binaries are limiting. With greater visibility of narratives from outside the binary, there is also greater acceptance. Tinder has facilitated same-sex matches from its inception but we believe it is important to celebrate more than heteronormative narratives of finding connections. For some members, gender and sexuality labels reflect their own personal assertion of identity and as identities evolve, the language we use and stories we tell should be more inclusive. We are cognizant about the challenges and range of experiences our LGBTQIA+ members face and want Tinder to be a safe space for them to express themselves, find community and support online, and stay connected, especially during COVID-19.”

Founder of Gaysi Family, Sakshi Juneja on the partnership, “Queer folks have rarely had a chance to engage in the popular idea of dating, friendship, and romance. Archiving these experiences that queer folks in desi communities have had is an important task- one that may lead to a better understanding of the nature of human connection and love, and how universal the experience of meeting someone new for the first time is.   

Through the active search for archiving stories that revolve around connections, we want to be able to curate a space where queer Indians from across different spectrums of gender, sexuality, age, location, and profession can find stories of people that have similar cultural and social locations. Queer Indians have rarely had much representation of their narratives in popular culture- especially stories of love, romance, and all the little sparks in between. The museum seeks to bridge that gap.”

“Tinder has proved to be an ally for the community in the truest sense over the past few years that Gaysi Family has been working with them. They have provided us with the support to continue doing the work we do as Gaysi in multiple ways- by supporting community events, providing outreach opportunities, and also, by giving complete freedom to us in Gaysi's creative endeavors,” added Sakshi. 

Tinder has been downloaded over 300 million times in nearly every country in the world and 40+ languages and has evolved into a community unlike any other. People have never had more access to a more diverse set of partners, companions, or life collaborators, to engage with in any way they choose, than on Tinder, and Queer Swipe Stories is an homage to these Matches, representation and the belief in possibility. 

As a reminder, when you choose to self-identify on Tinder, it does not mean that you share this information with other members unless you choose to. As always, if you believe that your account has been banned due to reports about your gender identity, please contact us at questions@gotinder.com.