LGBT Hookup Apps Join NY Campaign Against Sexual Violence
LGBT hookup apps have joined a New York ad campaign to help people stay safe from sexual violence.
Created by the New York City Anti-Violence Project, the advertising campaign will appear as pop-up ads on apps and sites including Grindr, Scruff and Jack’d.
The “For a Safe Time” campaign wants to reach “an ever-increasing number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and HIV-affected New Yorkers experience violence while using online dating sites and apps.”
The campaign comes after recent cases of such violence in the US, such as Stephen Patrick White, who was killed in Greensboro, North Carolina after being severely beaten, robbed, and burned by a man he met at a gay bar.
Earlier in the year, a Canadian man was robbed and raped in Philadelphia by a man he met on Grindr, and a Seattle man was arrested for attacking someone he met on Grindr with a hammer.
The campaign has received funding from the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute.
Sharon Stapel, AVP’s Executive Director, said their goal was to “de-stigmatize hooking up online and give people information to stay safe when hooking up and let people know that if violence happens through these online hook ups that there is someplace they can go.”
The online ads link to a page giving safety tips for online dating.
Other ads help with the reporting of hate violence, intimate partner violence and other sexual violence, and link to a confidential reporting form.
In addition to these online forms and safety tips, AVP have a 24-hour English and Spanish language hotline.
Joel Simkhai, founder and CEO of Grindr, said the AVP was “a great example of how organizations are helping to end all forms of violence and it’s important to us at Grindr to advocate and support worthy initiatives to combat negativity in our community.”
Buzzfeed reported that other participating apps include Backpage, BGLlive, GROWLr, Hornet, Manhunt, MISTER, and VGL.
They also said Grindr reported 109 clicks every week on the safety tips, and Rentboy.com was providing 7,000 ad impressions every day.
Visit AVP’s site here.
