Grindr Lays Off Entire Editorial Staff at LGBTQ Publication Into

LGBTQ publication Into is no more. Grindr, the gay dating app company that owns the website, has laid off the entire editorial and social media staff, reports The Advocate.

The mass layoff comes just two months after Into published a piece calling out Grindr's President for appearing to condemn same-sex marriage, and the same week Zach Stafford, Into's former Editor-in-chief, began as Editor-in-chief at The Advocate.

Last year, Grindr came under fire for sharing it's users' HIV status with other companies. The dating app is also being sued by a man whose ex-boyfriend used the app to send 1000+ men looking for sex to his home and workplace over a span of five months.

Read the editorial staff's press release below:

The team at Into was saddened to learn this morning that as of Jan. 15, we will no longer be with Grindr. The company will be refocusing its efforts on video and as such, the editorial and social teams were let go this morning. We feel that Into’s closure is a tremendous loss for LGBTQ media, journalism, and the world. 

During our nearly two years, we created incredible, award-winning content for and about the LGBTQ community worldwide. We have been awarded with a GLAAD nomination and honored by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA); we were also given a special award from the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF). We told stories of transgender prisoners forced to endure nightmarish treatment behind bars, LGBTQ asylum seekers looking for hope and refuge in the United States, and drag queens fighting for space and community in small town Tennessee. We shared the hopes and joys of the LGBTQ community, our successes and setbacks, and our triumphs and heartaches during a vulnerable political moment. We aimed to give a voice to those who need one now more than ever, a platform for them to see themselves represented wholly.

In that time, we built one of the largest LGBTQ platforms in history—using the power of social media to reach queer audiences around the globe. Others took notice. Our reporting was cited in notable publications like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Vanity Fair. We were the first national outlet to interview Christine Hallquist about her groundbreaking candidacy for the Vermont governorship, which would have made her the first trans person elected governor of a U.S. state. We helped start a national conversation on Girl, a Belgian film our publication termed “trans trauma porn.” We pushed the year’s biggest LGBTQ films to allow queer media publications access after years of being shut out and ignored by studios.

In doing so, we further proved what queer people have shown for decades: there is an audience, a desire, and a hunger for LGBTQ stories told by LGBTQ people. This includes all letters of the queer alphabet, including intersex, bisexual, pansexual, agender, and asexual communities that had long felt marginalized by mainstream media. Just as importantly, we centered the voices of queer and trans people of color after years of criticism that queer media was too white, too male, and too cisgender. We have hoped to lead by example.

To us, taking a moment to celebrate Into is not a matter of highlighting what we’ve done—although there is room for pride and reflection. It’s about doing what we will continue to do, inside or outside this publication: lift up and celebrate our community. 

Thank you to our readers, freelance contributors, and all those who have supported us in the past year and a half. It was literally too good to be true.

Sincerely, 

Into Team