Australia. It’s not all sunshine, sandy beaches and koala bears.
Dustin Mangatjay McGregor is a 23-year-old Yolngu man. The Yolngu is group of Aboriginal people who originally inhabited north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Because of his ethnic origin, McGregor says he regularly receives racist messages from guys on Grindr. Now, he’s speaking out about it.
“There’s a hierarchy in the gay community,” McGregor tells the Sydney Morning Herald. “The white attractive male with the European background is at the top of the pyramid. The further you are away from that ethnicity or body image the more you’re shunned in the gay community.”
Related: Scruff Founders Defend App’s Ethnicity Filters — “Personal Preference” Or Casual Racism?
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McGregor says he’s been called pretty much every derogatory term under the sun, and more often than not the insults are completely unprovoked. Sadly, this is nothing new to him.
“I’d like to say surprises me in this day and age that so many negative stereotypes exist regarding Aboriginal people, but it’s something I’ve grown up with,” he says. “I remember when I moved to Darwin and students in my class, who were barely 13 years old, were making offensive racial remarks about Aboriginal people. In my experience, people need to be taught from a young age that racism isn’t acceptable.”
Recently, McGregor says he eliminated the word “Aboriginal” from his profile just to see what would happen.
Related: See Guys React To Ridiculously Racist Grindr Profiles
“I wondered if people would notice such subtle changes in my profile and they did,” he said. “I was flooded with messages. There was so many more–I lost count. But when I changed it back there wasn’t as much interest.”
Now, he hopes that by speaking out about the problem, he will make people think twice before making racist and insensitive remarks to people they meet online.
“Some of my gay friends were particularly astounded and told me that they’ve not received any form of abuse like that in their entire lives,” he says. “I think overall these posts have raised awareness to the fact that the struggle to combat racism is still well and truly alive.”
Scroll down to see some of the awful things complete strangers have said to McGregor…
Related: Discriminating Against Race On Grindr Doesn’t Make You A Racist
Tyler Evertsen
How disgusting. Damn, he’s hot. This is really messed up.
DCguy
Is there a disconnect between the picture posted and the text message portion of the article?
One of the texts is stating that the person looks Chinese and yet the picture in the article is of a person with obviously European blue eyes.
Masc Pride
“You looks Chinese”? I don’t see it. I wouldn’t have assumed Dustin was any type of color, so it seems like maybe he was just being trolled. Something just seems off. I don’t see how a guy that looks pretty European is regularly receiving ra cist messages.
Can we all agree that Grindr isn’t the best place for the hypersensitive?
Christopher Hayward
This is sad, people with little minds have no better things to do with their time. Then to burden this young nice man with hateful messages.
Billy Budd
I would love to date a cute Aborigine. I have never tried one. My boyfriend is of mixed race. Black mixed with Portuguese. He is lovely.
DCguy
@Billy Budd:
Seriously. I don’t get people. Hot is hot, funny is funny, sexy is sexy.
Kangol
Call it what it is, typical r@cism, and Australia’s r@cist history is well known. On the broader front, since this happens there, the US, Brazil, etc., I guess being r@cist and white supremacist makes some people feel better about themselves.
The guy is attractive (not my cup of tea but I can say that he’s good looking), but clearly some creeps can’t deal with it, and of course you then have people calling out his sensitivity. It’s the same way with homophobia.
The problem isn’t gay people, or people of color, it’s homophobes and r@cists, who want you to think you’re to blame, when it’s their sickness and fear that creates the negativity.
Poncho Sanchez
@DCguy, I don’t know if blue eyes are typical or aboriginal but there children can often have red or blond hair, even without admixture.
Stache
Funny that he’s mostly Caucasian looking and cute by Western standards. Not at all like what most Aborigine people look like. Seriously doubt Queerty would be doing a story on that reality. That and the usual commenters saying how hot and cute he is. Lol.
Poncho Sanchez
Sorry for the typos “of” and “their”
onthemark
Wow… judging from the photo, if he moved to the U.S. he would be just another cute boring white guy.
Apparently Australians have an extremely fine-tuned sense of r@cism?
DCguy
@Poncho_Sanchez
Oh, I know, I was wondering because I thought it was a weird comment that he looked Chinese. Because I seriously doubt the guy in the picture would get lost in a crowd in Beijing.
That’s why I wasn’t sure if the picture was correct. It seems like it would be like trying to attack Lupita Nyong’o by telling her a blond joke.
Jake Lai
He’sCUTE!!!
Stache
I call BS on this. He doesn’t look Chinese or black. He needs to post his real pic if he wants to make a point here. The Grindr if they’re even real are a bunch of dumb asses.
Luis H. Lopez
Bigotry exist in our community we need to do better!
ted72
@Billy Budd: If you have a bf, your hands are already full. Just saying…
Billy Budd
@ted72: I am totally faithful to my bf. I meant that from a totally theoretical point of view.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
He’s a con. He had to use a picture of an Asian to drum up the r@cism he was trying to play the victim of.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
And really the words r@ce and r@cism or banned?
montrealgerman
Well the Person on the other end must clearly need glasses. I do not see a Chinese man in this picture. I see a very handsome young man, who i would not mot mind meeting in person.
Stache
I wish the pic showed a real Aborigine. Then we’d explore the ra*cism instead of the… OMG that boy is sooooo cute commenting you see here. Then again maybe that’s the point he’s trying to make. Hmm…
Richard Holaday
He definitely doesn’t appear Aboriginal nor Chinese to me. Some guys need to have their eyes checked by a professional. His blue eyes are gorgeous.
Matt Achine
@Billy Budd: You’ve “never tried” an Aborigine, like you never got around to tasting cronuts? Okay.
I can’t get over the covert nature of this craze. If this is a regular occurrence on Grindr, isn’t the racism connected to some people with profile pictures? Why are these pricks never exposed when nothing is private in social media? Let’s see them out in the open.
DDstar1me
The bigger issue here is, where is this gay community people keep talking about? I’d love to visit.
Also, shouldn’t we be more concerned that Donald Trump is still being considered a candidate for president?
Finally,as an African American man, I can honestly say that this issue of race is getting tired. It’s been beat to death. can we just move on and live our lives please. I can’t understand for the life of me in 2016 why anyone needs white validation.
Jesus Malverde
He is right, there is a hierarchy in the gay community. It is shameful! We must work to end racism, sexism, bias against our transgender sisters and brothers. If we are fighting oppression, we have to fight to rid all of these from our community!
mfullmer
Nothing adds up here. Who’s picture is that?
TimberWolf
Social media regardless of application opens a doorway to some pretty mean spirited people consumed by hate and anger with full ignorance as they hide behind a Username in the world of technology. Hate is not natural it is taught and reinforced by ignorance and anger. This guy could be anyone in New York City or LA, never knowing his ethnic origin. Society today are mixed with more than one ethnic background. Unfortunately racial slurs and stereotypes exist in all communities not just the Gay/Lesbian community and in all countries. It is upsetting and unnerving to have to read hateful slurs in ones own community but a strong wise person who rises above the idiots and cowards focus on what matters, report the abuse to social media. It is the responsibility of website/social media application owner/management /team to monitor and remove those with offensive behavior.
SteveDenver
Some people are jerks. It’s a fact of life.
The moment someone sounds off-key, CLARIFY. If they’re a stupid jerk, stop engaging them.
glennmcbride
I think the photo must be a generic “Australian” and is not the photo of the person that is the subject of this article. A person with ” mixed race” or “aboriginal” in their profile would be a plus for me.
Garth
I cannot see how Dustin could be classified as anything except handsome. The guy he is talking to must be some kind of misfit. Your are beautiful big guy , don’t let anyone tell you different.
BigG
Basically if you want to meet the scum of the earth, go on gay apps looking for love. Seriously, be social, get off all apps, meet people face to face or through friends. If you live in a small town there’s always gay parties someone throws locally. Online dating is awful and is a haven for the most toxic people you will ever encounter
Matt Achine
@DDstar1me: Here we go again. In a culture where this guy is probably discriminated against by white men who slander him, the problem that you see is a pursuit of white validation? WTF?? Where did you get his distress about white rejection from? That sounds like your hangup. Did you miss the part where he talks about not even soliciting these attackers? They materialize from nowhere to do this. It’s a prevalent issue in this community. And your suggestion is to just stop talking about it? Bye, Felicia.
DarkZephyr
I don’t know why so many of you are getting hung up on his appearance. So one person said he looked “Chinese”. There are some really dumb people in this world. The article shows that when he took the word “aboriginal” out of his profile, people didn’t realize he had aboriginal blood and he was flooded with interested messages. So he acknowledges that people can’t always tell by looking at him that he isn’t 100% white. But people merely judged him based on the fact that his profile mentioned some non-white lineage.
DDstar1me
@ Matt Achine …LMAO…Y’all are funniiie.
DDstar1me
@ Matt Achine…What you need to be mad at is the racism going on in this gay community y’all keep talkin bout. Not me. I’m not yea problem. Trust me.
josephamillikan
Those people with such hateful comments, I wonder if their dicks are as small as their minds? It is outrageous that you should have to endure such horrible treatment. It is certainly beyond acceptability by any stretch of the imagination to make such derogatory comments. You could be from Mars. Who cares? It’s what you’re like as a human that’s important and nothing else matters. Period. I’m going to stop because the more I write, the angrier I become. I’m just livid right now.
onthemark
One message is awfully suspicious: the guy who brags that he’s a med student at UCLA (yeah right, and talk about a non sequitur), immediately after insulting Dustin with the word “wog.” That’s not a word Americans use, or have generally even heard of. Granting that he might be a FOREIGN, albeit imaginary med student at UCLA, it still seems suspicious.
And who the hell thinks aborigines look Chinese? Nobody.
But I thought aborigines really DO have some “bush” way of keeping cool? I’m pretty sure I read that in a Robert Hughes book someplace. Or maybe it was a Midnight Oil song. LOL.
@Stache: Can we be sure Dustin isn’t just a white grad student in sociology doing some dumb-@ss project? This whole article seems like a micro-aggression!
tjr101
This guy looks as close to euro-centric as you can get. Unless he specifically identified himself as aboriginal I don’t see how someone can call him anything other than white.
Sweetie Pie
Racism in the so-called gay community…..shocking!
AtticusBennett
this is why i, and many others, screen-cap and post the convos, with the photos.
see how proud these guys are of their awful comments when they’re put on the world wide web for all to see.
batesmotel
The most rude and classless group of people I’ve ever encountered in my life are on Grindr. It’s the bottom of the barrel so to speak. It’s no surprise that this guy has also come across similar people on that app. I’ve run similar tests as he has to see how stereotypical and unrealistic most gays on Grindr are. The results are not surprising.
batesmotel
Grindr is not a place for the hyper intelligent to be on anyway. It’s where the rejects hang out. You know the ones who are incapable of constructing full sentences. You’re not going to connect with anyone of quality on there at all. There may be that one person who is of quality, but that’s one out of a few thousand. They’re in the 1%, and most of them don’t stay on that app anyway.
markmarmarm
This is ridiculous. I don’t care where the hell you are from or what your penis size is or if you wear glass, have long hair, etc.
If you make pee pee hard and I do the same for you, then we’re good 🙂
AtticusBennett
@batesmotel – i’ve had a lot of success on Grindr, actually. And Scruff, and other apps/sites
it’s easy to get what you want out of it if you’re clear about yourself and what you’re about. hell, i’ve even made platonic friends from it! literally, chatted and ended up hanging out and playing SNES.
one dude and i took in the Bowie exhibit at the art gallery, and ended up becoming fast friends.
are there lots of idiots on it? totally. but it’s easy to sift through them.
do what i do – have a good photo of yourself. fill in your profile with as much about YOU as you can. guys who get you, like actually get you, will message you. and then it’s easy from there!
i’ve had grindr-hookups turn into longterm and very-valued friendships, lovers and more.
helpful hint – don’t make your profile just about sex and you’ll end up connecting with guys who you’ll have more-than-sex in common with!
Matt Achine
@DDstar1me: You go on finding humor in what I’ve said if you want to. That’s a major contribution to the dialogue, I’m sure. I’m mad enough at racism to acknowledge it without discrediting anyone who identifies it as bitter over not gaining white acceptance. That’s a tired argument that puts a wall up to speaking out in the first place.
captainburrito
Not excusing it but such places are not really the place where the best in humanity comes out. And the silver lining is that you got to know of their racism and rudeness up front instead of having to waste time. People are attracted to certain races and there is no changing that anymore than u can change sexual orientation.
What u can change is overt racism but i’m not sure this is the place u can make a difference.
Guessing the picture is not the real guy. People who look nothing like chinese being mistaken for it is common imo. I mean some people really have not been exposed and cannot tell the differences or even know other races.
AtticusBennett
actually, orientations and “preferences” are not the same. a person can actually broaden their tastes, if only they can first be capable of self-interrogation. the more insecure gay males in our community cannot do that.
we live in a world that worships Straight White Men above all else. therefore, the sad case of the gay men who are “not into fats fems asians or blacks” does indeed have a societal root; they;ve been conditioned to feel that way.
there’s a reason that the gay men who live in more conservative areas are the ones who tout “no blacks asians or fems” the most. the smaller the town, the stronger the homophobia, the more “no fems” profiles you’ll see.
to them, “fem” is anything that ignorant folks deem to be “obviously gay”
as for the racism; you actually can unlearn your prejudicial ethnic preferences. it just requires self-interrogation, and understanding the White Worship that still sadly exists in culture.
Tait47
The real world is not pretty, especialy on a meat market app like Grindr. It will even be harder as he ages out of the “dating” pool.
Brian
In Australia, people have very stereotypical views of races and ethnicities.
In the gay scene, sexual attraction is based on stereotypes.
OzJosh
If nobody can tell you’re Aboriginal without you actually telling them, then there’s already something else at work here. Also, the non-sequiturs in the published conversation would suggest they have been edited. It seems obvious to me that the only way this guy would get negative comments about race is by raising the subject himself, which introduces the question of exactly what HE said to provoke negative comments.
rickdware
I was just looking at Amazon’s selection of LGBT videos and I didn’t see to many images of diversity. I believe that the selection of videos to purchase at Amazon tell the whole story.
Why would anyone be surprised, shocked, or doubt the obvious? Gay men are definitely more prejudice than strait men. The gay lifestyle begs the question and answers it without doubt. Gay lifestyle is all about European features. The media shapes and distorts our view of beauty from birth.
Every culture in the world has been brainwashed into believing that white features are synonymous with beautiful features. White men wholeheartedly embrace the stereotypes and either don’t believe in the brainwashing, or deny there is a problem. Sure, there is a movement to change the whitewashing, but I’m more than certain that a large number of white men still see color first at utmost. Hell, we all see color first. Seeing color first is what we’ve all been taught through the media and social conditioning. It’s not right, but we all do our share in advancing the bigotry.
Straight white men are quickly evolving, but gay white men don’t seem to embrace diversity. Acceptance is changing, but not fast enough for my generation. In my dealings with Afro American culture a large amount of Afro American seem to add to the problem with their hate. I wish that I could have been born about a couple decades from now? Maybe, I’m just having a bad day? This is just my opinion and these are only assumptions, and you know what they say about assumptions and opinions.
heavylifter
@AtticusBennett – None of what you claim has any scientific validity. Sexual desire is grounded in hormones, biology and evolutionary processes.
“it just requires self-interrogation”
That is Orwellian, like Mao’s Cultural Revolution where individuals attended “Struggle Sessions” and engaged in “Self Criticisms”.
heavylifter
I think the story is blown out of proportion. Big deal if you get trolled on a sleazy hookup site.
That guy is only a bit Aboriginal, he’s obviously got a whole lot of white too.
I’m not surprised he was avoided when he pur Aboriginal in his profile. Their communities are a mess, all the social development stats are a nightmare, why would anyone run the risk of interacting with that.
Kevan1
I am very confused. The photo above bares no resemblance to the Aboriginal peoples. Check out Google photos of Aboriginal families living as modern Aboriginal people and Aboriginals in the bush. The photo of this man shows no sign of an aboriginals facial features.
Blackceo
Ugh…r@cist White men are the worst and there’s too many of them out there to count. The ones that have Black friends prefer whitewashed Black men because they won’t challenge them on race and privilege.
Daniel-Reader
What is interesting is that he expected something different on Grindr. That’s like not expecting Christians on Christinmingle or expecting atheists on JDate or not expecting gay Asians on Blued – makes no sense going in.
joeyty
@Stache: “I wish the pic showed a real Aborigine. Then we’d explore the ra*cism instead of the… OMG that boy is sooooo cute commenting you see here. Then again maybe that’s the point he’s trying to make. Hmm…” LOL. That’s for sure.
theodisc
It is really him, I’d say. If you are an aussie, then you will know what to look for in peoples features to know if they have aboriginal or not, whether you have a problem with them or not. He definately does have aboriginal blood in him, I can tell. There is alot of inherant r@cism over the pond in Aus. They not all are like this of course, and the further outback you go the more it can escalate and the aboriginals make plain that this is our land out there. We come first, we go to the front of the line, you drive around us. In many ways I can see why theseattitude prevail as Aus is not adressing its past and present transgressians against it’s first peoples the way that New Zealand has and is. Sorry goes along way in starting down the path to reconciliation, knowledge and understanding.
MadMikenCT
I haven’t read the other comments so i apologize if I’m repeating a sentiment. We are a part of a hypocritical community that is quick to cry foul when we are discriminated against based on our sexuality. That isn’t to say we shouldn’t cry foul or protest. However, within our own community exists horrible racism, ageism, and any other ism you can throw at it. Michael Sam just stated that almost all the bigotry he faces is from the gay community. How sad is that? I support that we all have physical attractions to a “type”. But when someone that is not that “type” the behavior and bigotry is shameful and embarrassing. I don’t get how we can expect respect from people outside our community when we don’t give it from within. I stopped going to gay establishments because that attitude brings me down. You’d think we’d know better.
Bob LaBlah
When the Brits invaded and conquered Australia they forced, at gunpoint, sword point or threat of hanging prostitutes, thieves, pickpockets, murders, child molesters, chronic drunks and politicians who had fallen out of favor with the crown to either get on the boats for the nearly year long trip to Australia (the winds were not always favorable to the sails, believe it or not). I would remind EVERY ONE of those bastards about their ancestry once they started down that road were I him.
And by the way, this guy looks like no blood line other than caucasian runs thru his veins.
avesraggiana
It’s KOALA, not KOALA BEAR. Koalas are not bears, they’re marsupials. Marsupials are a type of mammal that are native to Australasia. This is common knowledge to well, much of the world. About the only people who don’t know this are Americans, and Americans, particularly on Queerty or Grindr probably don’t care.
avesraggiana
@Stache: No, he doesn’t look Chinese or black, he looks exactly how he’s described – mixed race white and Australian aborigine.
avesraggiana
@Kevan1: I understand your confusion since you probably have never lived in Australia. I’m not Australian myself but I spent several of my childhood years growing up there. To me, because my eyes have already been trained to spot it, it’s perfectly evident that he’s of mixed race – European white and Australian aborigine.
joeyty
@avesraggiana: He can’t have much aboriginal background. Anyone who looks “aborigines” up online, including those of mixed race, will see that.
avesraggiana
@joeyty: Yes. Anyone who looks anything up online will find what they want to see.
joeyty
@avesraggiana: Oh…believe me….I saw some stuff I’d rather not see.
avesraggiana
@joeyty: You and I, both.
dbmcvey
Grindr sounds awful. I am not missing out on anything by not being on it.
Captain Obvious
A lot of the ignorant comments under the article pretty much prove the guy’s point but it’s not like all people of color across the board haven’t said this before. And the evidence has been presented many times over.
I love the hilariously stupid comments that accuse the man of not looking ethnic enough to be aborigine. Because his hair and eye color must belong exclusively to white skinned humans and no one else can have those features(according to ignorant morons who believe in Hitler’s Aryan ideals). Newsflash all of humanity was birthed in Africa, we’re all descendants of Africans. Blue eyes and blonde hair are found in Africa just like every skin tone known to man. Stop pretending like humans come in different flavors, you’re not a special snowflake no matter how autistic you may be. All humans are actually the same, you should’ve learned that during your piss poor public school education at some point.
Such juicy stupidity it’s like a joke that never ends.
tricky ricky
you would never know he was aboriginal by looking at him. it must be only a tiny part of his genetic make up from a cou0ple of hundred years ago. the Aborigine should remind the Caucasian people of Australia they’re descended from a bunch of criminals and other undesirables.
tricky ricky
after looking at photos of his people there is no way anyone would ever know he was in any way shape or form aboriginal without him saying something. I have my doubts he actually is.
tricky ricky
@ captain obvious: look at photos of actual aborigines. stop pretending you know what you’re talking about.
twinkie1cat
Not sure what “wog” means but I assume it is bad. In any case it seems to be human nature to find someone to look down upon, to see as second class in order to build yourself up. it is especially bad when a group that is easily persecuted and discriminated against puts down members of its own group. It is sick. I have seen it for a long time in the gay community, particularly white gay men who did not like blacks and even tried to exclude them from the bars and gay men and lesbians both disliking transgenders. I mean you don’t have to take someone home if they are not to your taste, but treat them with respect and equality as fellow human beings with whom you have something in common.
avesraggiana
@twinkie1cat: “Wog” is a derogatory Australian slang term for a Greek immigrant to Australia.
Evji108
This is clearly a real issue, but using a fake photo for the piece is not helping it, I am not sure what we are not being told, but something is not authentic here.
dwes09
I can’t believe r@cism is a flagged word here. But a comment I just made comparing New Zealand with Australia was just held for moderation! Seems odd to me.
junk4sts
I too thought he didn’t look right, but a quick search of Aboriginal People as well as a search of his name get’s you some better pictures of him where you can see that his skin is not typical for a “white’ guy. Also aboriginal people can be dark of skin but they have their own unique facial features. Dustin is cute, he does have aboriginal facial features which look really good on him.
I feel his pain, I have been almost completely ignored on grindr and scruff, nothing mean was ever said to me, just nothing was ever said at all, once someone asked me to block him so my picture wouldn’t show up on his phone, I didn’t respond to him. I eventually deleted my profile on both apps.
In the long run I realized that I don’t want to be with anyone who doesn’t want to be with me, even if it just for a one-time hook-up, it doesn’t really matter why they don’t want to be with me.