A male-to-female transgender is suing the dating app Tinder for discriminating against transgender people in the Portland, Oregon area.
Ariel Hawkins, who was born a biological male, claims in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, that the company sent him an email saying he violated its terms after Hawkins edited his profile to disclose that he was a pre-op transgender.
Hawkins says Tinder immediately deleted his account. The lawsuit says the company didn’t explain the violation in the email.
Hawkins tells TMZ that Tinder is trying to save its brand. Hawkins says, “I don’t think the company understands trans people and they don’t appreciate how we may represent ourselves”.
Hawkins said Tinder is trying to remove trans people altogether.
Unlike Tinder — which caters exclusively to heterosexuals — the gay dating app Grindr boasts over 1 million LGBT subscribers. Grindr recently relaxed its restrictions against transgender individuals, allowing them full access to the dating app.
Hawkins said he uses Tinder — rather than Grindr — to “find love,” probably because Grindr is a sex hookup app.
Hawkins said Tinder “refuses to provide transgender individuals full and equal access to its app”.
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.
