Grindr President Says Marriage Is Between A Man And A Woman, Another Grindr Exec Resigns In Protest
Landon Rafe Zumwalt, the head of communications for gay dating app Grindr, has chosen to resign from his position, citing that he refused to compromise his own values.
According to the Huffington Post, the response to step down from his position at Grindr was due, in part, to the “furor over a Facebook post made by the company’s president, which appeared to oppose same-sex marriage.”
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the president of popular gay dating app Grindr, Scott Chen, recently made a statement on marriage that seemed to agree with the statement that holy matrimony was “between a man and a woman.”
The statement was written in Chinese and a translation was published in Grindr-owned INTO magazine. The source appears to be a since-deleted Facebook status that was posted in Chinese by Chen. The translation of this now deleted post is as follows.
“There are people who believe that marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman. I agree, but that’s none of our business.”
This statement created an uproar in the LGBTQ+ community.
Chen responded by issuing an internal memo which was distributed to Grindr staff.
“The words I chose related to marriage between a man and a woman were meant to express my personal feelings about my own marriage to my wife – not to suggest that I am opposed to marriage equality. I want to make clear that I am an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and have been since I was young.”
Today, I submitted my official resignation as @Grindr’s head of communications. My full statement is here. https://t.co/Waf4gDFgXL
— Landen Rafe ? (@LandenRafe) December 7, 2018
However, it appears that wasn’t enough for Grindr executive Landon Rafe Zumwalt, who has decided to step down from the company. Zumwalt issued the following statement on his resignation, which was published as an open letter on Medium.
“As an out and proud gay man madly in love with a man I don’t deserve, I refused to compromise my own values or professional integrity to defend a statement that goes against everything I am and everything I believe. While that resulted in my time at Grindr being cut short, I have absolutely no regrets. And neither should you.”
Landon also issued a message to those who remained within the company, telling them to continue in their fight.
“For those who remain, those who will continue to fight for our community from within, know I will be cheering you on from the sidelines,” Landon said in the Medium post.
“Persist. Make your voices heard. And never compromise who you are for someone else.”
