The Paris Olympics and Paralympics came to a close on September 8th after six weeks of various sports events, covering all grounds from hip-hop to the triathlon. Naturally, there were many controversies and complaints in the media, some justified more than others, but one that came up more recently is the ban of geo-location on the dating app for queer men, Grindr. For a sports event which is said to be increasingly inclusive, with a refugee team and gender-equal representation, this is not a good look, especially since this ban did not apply to Tinder or other apps. However, there is more to it than what headlines may be telling you.
The way this function works is that when selecting your preferences on a dating app you can select a specific location you would like to find people in. This became the objective of a game for many people who tried matching with as many athletes as possible and then shared it on the social media app, TikTok. This seemingly innocent game has been played by some journalists during the last few Olympics, attempting to ‘out’ athletes. Naturally, these exposures captured the world’s attention leaving the athletes’ sexualities as public knowledge rather than something personal they can choose to share.
If you’re thinking, ‘So what? They will move on’, although it is true that they would eventually have to move on from something so personal about their identity being out in the world, this is not where it ends. There are still numerous countries where LGBTQIA+ individuals do not have equal rights, and a good deal of them participated in the Olympics. This resulted in the outed athletes from homophobic countries being kicked off the team and being exiled. This ruins the athlete’s career so in Beijing 2020 they started imposing restrictions on dating apps which was further implemented this year.
Although this may appear as a great solution, I do believe that the issue lies in the ethics of the journalists. These athletes should be allowed to find a partner through an app the same way straight athletes are. What should be banned is sharing private information about an individual without their consent, especially when it imposes a threat on their career or safety back home. Nonetheless, that appears to be impossible in the world we currently live in, so banning geo-location features is suitable for now.
