Multiple countries around the world are currently facing a conservative push against LGBTQ people. Egypt for instance is going through a major anti-gay crackdown. But in this time of strife, gay dating apps are giving users tips on how to stay safe.
Egypt is going through a very harsh anti-gay crack down after a rainbow flag was waved in the middle of a concert in Cairo.
What started out as just a few men waving that flag has ended up being a full-on campaign where nearly 70 people have been incarcerated and more than 20 have been sentenced to anywhere between six months and six years in prison, according to Dalia Abdel Hameed of the rights groups Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
That said, U.S.-based gay dating apps, like Grindr and Hornet, have been inserting safety tips in Arabic to Egyptian users.
Some of these tips include letting people know the location of any meetup you have with someone you meet online and meeting through video chats first to confirm identities.
“We always send out messages like this to users who are in places where there is an elevated level of risk,” said Jack Harrison-Quintana, a director at Grindr, to Reuters.
“It will make people take more precautions … we know that the police are under pressure to arrest people and they are going about doing that through all the avenues that they have.”
Though it is not illegal to be gay in Egypt, there is still a toxic stigma towards LGBTQ people.
