Foot in mouth

Grindr’s straight president says marriage is between a man and a woman

Scott Chen, president of Grindr, anti-gay marriage
Scott Chen, president of Grindr

In a Facebook post, Scott Chen — the hetero prez of Grindr, the world’s most popular gay dating and hook-up app — wrote, “Some people think the marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman. And I think so too.”

To its credit, Grindr’s in-house publication, Into More, showed no fear, breaking the news of Chen’s post. Chen was commenting on news that HTC, the Taiwan-based smartphone manufacturer, supports anti-gay causes through two non-profit organizations.

In his post, Chen wrote: “Some people think the marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman. And I think so too. But that’s your own business. Some people think the purpose of the marriage is to have a child carries your DNA. But again, that’s your own business.”

He continued, “Marriage is personal. Why can’t you use your money to help the people suffer from poverty, hunger, war or disasters? Why would you want to spend your money on preventing people who love each other from getting married? There is nothing else more important in your life?”

“Yes. I won’t purchase any HTC product in my life,” he concluded, “and I won’t donate to any Christian organization based in Taiwan.”

Related: Guys describe the reasons why they deleted Grindr

Into More reached out to Grindr for comment but haven’t heard back.

Chen later elaborated on his views, reassuring everyone that he does support marriage equality:

The reason I said marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman is based on my own personal experience. I am a straight man married to a woman I love and I have two beautiful daughters I love from the marriage. This is how I feel about my marriage. Different people have their different feelings about their marriages. You can’t deny my feelings about my marriage.

I took down this post because there were some heated discussions and my aunt was involved there. She was a really nice Taiwanese lady in her 60s and she is a very convinced Christian like my Dad. I love my aunt. I no longer want her to see the discussion this post so I changed the settings to Friend of Friends and excluded her.

I am a huge advocate for LGBTQ+ rights since I was young. I support gay marriage and I am proud that I can work for Grindr.

At the start of 2018, Grindr was acquired by the China-based tech firm Kunlun Group. Chen originally began as the company’s CTO before becoming president.

The New York Times reports Chen previously posted social media messages promoting LGBTQ rights in China and Taiwan.

Related: Pride Media owner with long history of funding anti-gay politicians promises he won’t do it anymore

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