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Dating apps promise to remain a rare refuge after Trump’s executive order

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Dating apps promise to remain a rare refuge after Trump's executive order

mere moments later Taking his oath of office on Monday, President Donald Trump made a proclamation To those attending his inauguration: “Henceforth, it will be the policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: men and women.” Trump then signed a executive order Shooting what the White House called “gender ideology” and claiming that a person’s sex “is not changeable and (is) based on fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

Trump’s order, which was widely seen as a unscientific Attempt to roll back the rights of transgender and gender-expansive people, also instructs federal agencies “to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and global entry cards, accurately reflect sex of the holder”, instead of their gender identity. . It was one of 78 orders signed Monday, some of which were part of Trump’s attempts to end Biden-era policies that “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public life.” and private.”

While the executive order only affects federal policy, the broader implications are enormous. It’s only been a decade since Facebook’s “real name” policy made it difficult for people to have accounts with names other than their IDs. Facebook has since modified these guidelines, but as companies as a clear goal for users to claim that trans people have “mental illnesses,” safe digital spaces for LGBTQ+ people seems to be decreasing. Except in an arena: dating apps.

Following Trump’s Executive Order, Match Group and Feeld told Wired that they have no intention of reversing course when it comes to the gender identity options offered on their respective platforms.

“We’re not making any changes to our apps,” says Kayla Whaling, a spokeswoman for Match Group, which owns OkCupid, Tinder, Hinge and several other dating platforms.

It remains to be seen how other tech companies will respond to the executive order. Some, like Meta, appeared to be giving overtures to the incoming Trump administration before this week. Earlier this month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would end its third-party fact-checking program and transition to a Community Notes model, à la X.

Zuckerberg called the sudden reversal an attempt to expand free speech on Facebook, Instagram and threads and allow more political content. “We’re going to simplify our content policies and get rid of a lot of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are out of touch with mainstream discourse,” Zuckerberg said in a video accompanying the announcement.

If life online becomes even less inclusive for LGBTQ+ people during Trump’s term, apps like OkCupid, Feeld and Hinge could become digital havens, places to connect. “At a time when many of our civil rights are threatened, dating apps have the ability to serve as crucial spaces for gender, racial, and sexual inclusion,” says Apryl Williams, professor of communication and digital studies at the University of Michigan.

More than a decade ago, in 2014, OkCupid expanded its gender options for users to include identifications such as Transgender, Pangender, Intersex, Agender, and Genderqueer. It was one of the first dating apps to capture an accurate picture of online identity, and the different ways it was evolving. Currently, Tinder provides an option to “beyond binary“And the hinge allows users to select”nonbinary“In their profiles.

(Tagstotranslate) Dating

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