Ariel Hawkins is suing Tinder
A trans woman is suing Tinder claiming it rejects all transgender people from the dating app.
Ariel Hawkins, from Portland, has filed a lawsuit against the global dating site.
She edited her profile to disclose she was pre-op trans woman a few days ago.
Tinder sued for deleting trans woman’s dating profile
Tinder immediately deleted her account following this, Hawkins claims.
She says the company sent her an email saying she violated its terms of service. However, it refused to explain the basis for the rejection.
‘I don’t think the company understands trans people and they don’t appreciate how we may represent ourselves,’ she told TMZ.
In the lawsuit, filed by Mark Geragos and Ben Meiselas, Hawkins is asking a judge for an order prohibiting Tinder from discriminating against non-cisgender Oregon users.
Tinder offers the option of choosing from multiple genders. This was prompted after many trans people reported getting banned in 2016.
The self-proclaimed most popular dating app in the world said they had worked with GLAAD on their new policy. This policy includes ‘welcoming transgender people and to not stand for bullying or harassment on the app’.
But it appears the issues have continued.
Trans people keep getting kicked off dating app
In December last year, 23-year-old trans student Tahlia was kicked off Tinder.
This was in order to protect the ‘safety’ of bigots who mass-reported her account.
She was also told she had ‘broken’ the dating app’s terms and conditions.
‘It just really pisses me off that I turn to online dating as a safer way to meet men but that’s not even available,’ Tahlia told Gay Star News.
‘To add insult to injury, Tinder tries to portray themselves as trans inclusive with all of their gender options (which are important don’t get me wrong) but at the end of the day if they don’t follow through with support it just ends up putting a target on our backs and allows them to call themselves “allies” without actually doing anything.’
A Tinder spokesperson told GSN: ‘We take our community guidelines and user reports seriously.
‘Please note that while we cannot share details regarding specific users or investigations, all users are held to the same standards and are removed from Tinder if they violate our community guidelines/terms of use.’
