Grindr Got Political

Courtesy of Grindr

We may know Grindr best for its ability to sniff out the nearest (and hottest) guys looking for a little action, but Grindr for Equality has been spending this week reeling from the election results. This comes after creating an awareness campaign for LGBT equality issues nationwide. Not only did the app deliver important political messages directly to its users during this election season, but it helped brings awareness to out and LGBT-friendly candidates and marriage equality fights in several key states.

All told, Grindr says it reached 1.5 million users in the U.S. alone with as many as 135 in-app messages with specific calls to action that accrued 40,000 click-throughs. And according to a post-election survey conducted by Grindr for Equality, 91 percent of users saw the in-app messages, and more than a quarter of those users – we’re talking hundreds of thousands of gay and bisexual guys – did something about it, like vote, volunteer, sign petitions and even donate money.

We can thank advocates from all walks of life for historic marriage equality acts passing in four states and many openly gay and LGBT-friendly candidates scoring victories across the country.

“What we’ve just seen is a huge step forward for our community. This election proved that the American people care about equality and that voting and being politically active as gay men can yield real results. The years we’ve spent fighting for our rights are starting to pay off on a massive scale,” says Joel Simkhai, CEO and founder of Grindr. “I’m proud of the fact that Grindr was able to help mobilize key blocs and educate our tremendous user base on the important issue of voting for equality.”

The nationwide survey, which was conducted yesterday morning (Nov. 7), included about 12,000 respondents from all 50 states. It also showed that 87 percent of Grindr users voted on Election Day, and 80 percent of these users voted to re-elect President Barack Obama. The survey also tells us that 94 percent of the candidates that Grindr for Equality campaigned for won their respective seats, including Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, who became the first openly gay person elected to the Senate.