Apparently, all it took for Grindr to shut down was the Republican Convention.
The Republican National Convention (RNC), held every four years since 1856 to formally nominate the Republican candidate for the general election, took place last week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Users of gay dating apps reported issues on Tuesday.
But according to Grindr’s incident website, there had been no reports of Grindr going down until Saturday, two days after the Republican National Convention ended. The most recent reported incident occurred in May.
Still, more than 1,000 users around Milwaukee reported the app was down due to an influx of users around 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to online service status website Downdetector and a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Additionally, an anonymous source in the area told the outlet on Friday that they had noticed more profiles than usual, especially blank profiles, which are indicative of accounts among frequent users who prefer not to reveal their identities.
The situation escalated when X’s satirical account, The Halfway Post, claimed it was breaking news, posting, “Gay dating app Grindr exec says Republican National Convention is ‘basically Grindr’s Super Bowl,'” but no statement was made by Grindr executives.
Still, a Grindr user at the convention posted a video in response to The Halfway Post swiping on the app, revealing that many users standing 0 feet away from it were also at the Republican National Convention.
The irony of this caution is hard to miss: Former Republican primary candidate and Florida governor Ron DeSantis is the man who spearheaded what is now known nationally as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Earlier this year, Governor DeSantis announced he was dropping out of the race to endorse President Trump as a Republican.
“Don’t Say Gay” is one of many angles that make up the more than 625 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in Congress this year, a record number of conservative efforts to ban the rights of queer, transgender and non-binary people.
And the rift between Republicans and the LGBTQ community goes beyond Grindr users’ sarcasm: On Wednesday, Rachel Maddow criticized President Trump’s vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, for his rapid rise in politics due to his ties to tech billionaires.
Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, is an openly gay billionaire, but he has also been a vocal supporter of Vance, notably donating $15 million to help secure Vance’s Senate seat from Ohio.
This isn’t the first time Grindr’s user influx has coincided with the Republican National Convention: In 2016, VICE News reported that the app saw a 120% increase in user activity in Cleveland, Ohio, home of that year’s convention, on the eve of the first day of the convention.
The surge in Grindr users at the Republican convention is nothing new for George Santos, the openly gay former Republican congressman who was expelled from Congress last fall on criminal charges.
In contrast to Santos, User X sees the situation as very sad. Rather than lambasting Republicans who are closeted (or not) LGBTQ, this user offers a perspective that speaks to the unique challenges of self-love faced by many in the queer community who struggle with their gender and sexuality.
The Grindr topic at the Republican National Convention was more like “There are a lot of gay people at the Republican National Convention who hate me” rather than “Hahaha, all the anti-gay politicians are actually gay”, which is sad. Respect your identity more.
— Part-time fox, full-time rain! (@seethereyn) July 17, 2024
In particular, the real concern for the LGBTQ community is the theatrical shutdown of Grindr, particularly at the hands of Republican figures who openly criticize LGBTQ justice.
Imara Jones, founder of the award-winning transgender-led news organization TransLush Media, reflected that the anti-trans rhetoric at the Republican National Convention was “having real-world consequences.”
Of the 625 anti-LGBTQ bills, 116 are currently in effect and 47 have already passed.
It’s unclear how the increased LGBTQ presence at the RNC will affect shifting dynamics within the Republican Party, but at the very least, the spike in Grindr use at the RNC may signal a growing, albeit complicated, overlap between queer and transgender justice and anti-LGBTQ conservative rhetoric.
Rather, it may signal an urgent need for the Republican Party to address and reconcile these contradictory realities, especially as it continues to harm the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQ community: transgender young people.
Meanwhile, queer Filipina writer, cultural critic, and podcaster Karen Tonson writes, last weekOne wonders whether this paradox of Republicans’ high presence on Grindr during the Republican National Convention is simply a sign of self-interested politics.
“To me, all this proves is that a lot of white gay men are willing to sacrifice us all to get closer to power.”
