Tinder co-founder Sean Rad has revealed that the dating app has matched over a quarter of a million transgender people after trans inclusive updates were made in November last year.
Since then, users have been able to choose from almost 40 options including Transgender Woman, Transgender Man, Transmasculine, Two-Spririt, Neutrois, Non-Binary and Other—instead of just man or woman.
Speaking at a SXSW panel on Friday, Rad said: “Tinder is about everyone and everyone deserves to meet someone special,” reported.
Tinder has been working closely with GLAAD to make sure the dating app is a safer place for transgender people.
GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis also spoke on the panel, saying that she was impressed Tinder took the initiative to make the app more inclusive.
"You guys proactively took this on. We weren't at your front door with pitchforks yet," she joked.
GLAAD then assisted by training Tinder employees about the importance of gender identity.
“We were taken aback by how complex identity is,” Rad said. “It’s a very complex area and, at the same time, Tinder is extremely simple. We sent an important message, not only to our community but our internal employees as well."
Rad says while the new functions make Tinder safer for transgender people, there’s still work to be done to curb harassment on the app.
“We have a great algorithm that can help, but no algorithm can solve humans,” he said.
"It was very important we built a feature that works—and we are building a better product for transgender users."
