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?”
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“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
QueerTruth
Again with the misleading titles… Not cool.
Raphael
Not really. That’s what he thinks and it was the premise of the dialogue. They can’t quote the whole thing as a title.
Donston
It isn’t all that “misleading”. Based on the quote you can surmise that he doesn’t support gay marriage. He just doesn’t believe in supporting and helping to fund organizations that push hate and support taking away people’s rights. This is the type of stuff more people need to get. Just because someone appears to be a part of “the culture” or has attached themselves to it for the benefit their careers and pockets doesn’t mean there’s unabashed support and respect there. Many people look as homo dynamics as mostly about sex and fun and don’t believe in the foundation and sustainability of “queer relationships”. And hell, there are plenty of gay-identifying people who feel that same way. But at least he isn’t hateful.
QueerTruth
Donston… read the man’s own words…
“…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.”
So, I stand with my original post: the title is very misleading.
Donston
The issue here lies with him, not Queerty (for once). He later “elaborated” his initial comments. But based on that first quote it definitely sounds like he doesn’t support gay marriage, but he believes in letting people be and not being hateful, which is the pov of many people. Honestly, it’s hard to tell what is what, because we can’t hear the first quote and understand its context, nor do we know what pushed him to later “elaborate” and how sincere it is. I will say that you can’t own something like Grindr and flat-out say I don’t support gay marriage. It’s bad for business.
PinkoOfTheGange
Are you pointing out that his statements imply that he differentiates between holly matrimony and marriage?
Therefore to the headline is inaccurate?
QueerTruth
Donston,
The “issue” is misquoting this man and twisting his words.
He said he believes marriage between a man and a woman is a holy matrimony.
That’s it. He did not say that it is NOT for same sex couples.
That’s conjecture and poor journalism.
QueerTruth
Pinko….
Yes. I am. The story is completely being taken out of context and Queerty knows that. They spell it out in the article what he said and believe. He does support LGBT right and gay marriage.
Catholicslutbox
To sum it up:
“Holy Matrimony” =/= “Gay Marriage”
“Holy Matrimony” > “Gay Marriage”
“Gay marriage” is not valid in the eyes of god.
So grindr isn’t gay-owned anymore? Where have I been!?
ElPillo
For once, Grindr is not misleading. In his own words: “marriage is holy matrimony between a man and woman”, then he quickly rejiggers his statement when he, oops!, f*cked up and could lose his business. I’m done with Grindr.
Donston
Yeah, I’m not really certain I completely buy the “misquote” claim that a few here are pushing. He said what he said. It could come off as something else under different context or being able to hear the quote. But even the whole quote seems to equate to: “I don’t really support gay marriage, but it’s not like they’re hurting anybody. And it’s about ‘love’. So, I don’t see any reason to be against it and any reason to support legislation that’s against it”. Even after the initial “slip up” he still kinda revealed his intentions.
There are many seemingly “gay friendly” people who aren’t truly down. There are many people who use “queer folks” for money or status or attention. There are many people who attach themselves to cultural movements or attach themselves to things like gay sex trade or the gay porn industry, but ultimately, they resent homosexual/homo-leaning/homo-romantic/gay people or don’t truly support and believe in same-sex love, commitment, marriage. I’m not saying that he’s definitely one of those people. I’m just saying don’t be naive.
I dare care either way. Everyone has a right to their opinion. And I have no stake. I don’t use Grindr, never have.
Donston
Also, how you gon’ claim to be Christian but you own Grindr of all things? Honestly, based on both the initial quote and especially the later quote, it sounds like he’s trying to defend his marriage more so than anything else. It’s like he’s someone who has (or he’s someone who knows many people who have) dimensions/fluidity in his orientation and he’s trying to defend the legitimacy of his straight marriage and of his core values. He’s bring up things that don’t really need to be brought up.
I wish non 100% heterosexual people who have no real interests in truly being in a non-hetero union would stop being so obsessed with covering their asses and explaining their decisions and just live their lives. Many people do indeed get married for many reasons. And orientation and relationships can indeed be very complicated stuff. I certainly didn’t marry my husband based purely on sex. But what he’s saying does indeed sound as if he doesn’t truly support gay marriage and doesn’t truly believe in the legitimacy of “queer unions” and families. I am getting a lil’ tired of people (and many supposed “queer” people) who live at least mostly hetero lives and who commit themselves to a hetero marriage or relationship constantly trying to show “support” while at the same time expressing superiority and defense mechanism. It’s getting old. And it serves no purpose. Just live your life.
pharaon.em.joe
But when you say marriage is between a man and a woman.. aren’t you implying that marriage is not between a man and a man? Perhaps you can’t analyze more than simple statements. He later “elaborated” for obvious reasons.
Inthelife
I agree! I think the headline was deliberately misleading; on its face, one might assume that the president of Grindr is anti-gay just by the headline alone! It’s almost a kin to bate and switch! It’s like TV news that tells you about some terrible disaster without mentioning that it didn’t take place in the US! I call it ‘trailer bate’! You through out a headline or video with no information at all only to find out it wasn’t what you assumed based on the headline or video! It’s dishonest and insulting to one’s intelligence!
Lacuevaman
how funny… the program that made “no asians” qualification so notorious among hookup sites, is now owned by an asian.
davantage
“Today China is experiencing an increased frequency of public protests and a major upsurge in religion, specifically Christianity. Also, religious sites and temples are an important part of the Chinese tourism economy.” Religion is disallowed in the Chinese constitution. All religion needs to be squashed quickly and decisively.
HereIAm
He is entitled to his opinion on gay marriage. Frankly speaking there is so much promiscuity in the Taiwan gay world that most people are disgusted with gays behaving badly. They are not ready for any committed marriage and they don’t deserve it.
Chrisk
If by most people you mean uptight trolls like you then yes I totally agree.
James
Get lost you homophobic hate filled troll. We know who you are and you are not a friend of gay people.
ocahan
Please seek help, instead of consistently spewing anti-gay opinion instead of evidenced information. Do you need assistance in finding a psychologist/psychiatrist? In this case, holy matrimony = hocus-pocus; in the US, marriage is a legal contract (though not = for all; i.e. TX); no god required.
Mack
There are promiscuous people everywhere. It not limited to gays- even in Taiwan. In my younger days I had many sex partners but I also knew of straights who had more than I. I also performed straight marriage ceremonies for a living for about 5 years and I can attest to the number of marriages many people had. I guess the sanctity of marriage only applies no matter how many times you cheat as long as you eventually marry some one.
QueerTruth
LMAO!!! You know nothing about Taiwan. That couldn’t be farther from the true.
HereIAm
James, I am only unfriendly toward lowlife gays.
David Myers
“Low-life gays”? You truly are a TROLL! You are called out, now the rest of us are going to stop “feeding you (your ego?). Begone TROLL . . . You have no power here!
Ukin Blome
Psychopaths only enjoy people being upset. They feel it brings others down to their level.
Chrisk
He didn’t say anything that I disagree with.
Hussain-TheCanadian
Yes me too, I think he is entitled to his view.
I personally don’t think marriage is a “holy matrimony” or holy in any way, shape, or form. Its a contract, a commitment between two people where they can safeguard their offspring, wealth, and health, that’s it.
Donston
Marriage even 100’s of years ago was never really about religion. That was always a cover and a way to make marriage more “legitimate”. It was always more about power, cultural status, money, children and, dare I say, love and wanting the world to know that you are seriously committed to this person.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@ Donston
You are right sir; it seems to me the belief in the “holiness” of marriage is in its roots a Christian idea, religiously speaking at least, and couple that with a Confucious based cultural construct which also emphasizes “marriage is forever” for the exact reasons you mentioned above, it doesn’t surprise me that Mr. Chen believes that marriage is “holy”.
HereIAm
Marriage is a contract by nature but it is also holy because you make solemn vows in front of God and everyone else that you promise to love your partner till death do us part. If that’s not holy, I don’t know what holy is.
Chrisk
Are you ever not trolling? Holy is a religious definition meant for the church. A marriage commitment is non-religious and is done by many atheists.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@ HereIAm
Straight people didn’t get the memo because more than half of them get divorced every year.
Besides why bring God into a marriage union? Does the Union remain holy when one of the couple cheats on the other? Does it remain holy when one of them, or both, no longer love each other? Does it remain holy if one of them hits or abuses the other?
pharaon.em.joe
@HereIAm my dick is holier than god.
James
So glad I am not on grinder.
djmcgamester
It’s not really a surprise. He probably doesn’t even think there’s any contradiction with owning Grindr. It’s not a dating website. To his mind, it likely just shows that gay men are about sex not marriage. Hence, he doesn’t care if men are booking up.
QueerTruth
Read the article. You’re talking out of your butt.
“…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.”
pharaon.em.joe
@QueerTruth of course he is going to say he is a “proud grindr president”. The straight bitch is making money. Also, don’t let words fool you… Queer TRUTH.
QueerTruth
pharaon.em.joe,
Your comment is an oxymoron. “Don’t let words fool you.”
It was misconstrue words that got him here.
So let’s look at his actions then. Do you see any actions that show he doesn’t support equal marriage? ….
Oh sorry, I didn’t hear you? That’s right because the answer is “No”.
So… it looks like you have no point and I stand my ground.
HereIAm
If most of the Grindr sluts become interested in committed relationships, he might as well shut down the hookup app because there will be no money to make. Fortunately most guys on these apps are die-hard sluts. They’ll have their fun while living in a miserable lifestyle but rest assured, perish they will.
QueerTruth
LMAO.
Dude, you’ve been living in your parents cellar for too many years. It’s obviously affecting your reasoning. Try to stop hating yourself so much and maybe shy away from GAY websites that offend your little lizard brain.
iamru2
I think most are just looking for validation, to flirt, or just looking at hot guys.
gayjim1969
How can you breathe that thin, rarified air on your ivory throne, in your ivory tower, where you’ve positioned yourself far above the normal folk? How can someone be as perfect and pure as you and still be human? How can one person stand in judgment of so many people? You must have the complete biographies of every gay man, and knowledge of their every thought and emotion to believe that you have the right to judge others’ lives. It is empowering when you feel you have all the answers, but the more enlightened we become, the more we realize how little we know.
HereIAm
If you have to know, I judge and judge often because I am willing to be judged by the same set of standards. I judge because I despise these things all my life, porn, promiscuous sluts, and men who just can’t man up and say no to hard drugs or sexual harassment. I judge because it is my duty to speak up against what i see as morally wrong.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@ HereIAm
Isnt it a bit early for a sunday sermon?
I’m not a fan of promiscuity either, but I don’t pass judgment on my fellow gay men, we all have circumstances that lead us to where we are at in life.
HereIAm
What you sugarcoat as “circumstances” I call it excuses and failures.
Hussain-TheCanadian
nonsense; circumstances are a chain of events caused by the laws of causality, some of these circumstances we have control over and some we don’t.
To claim that circumstances are a purely controlled events is pretty much heartless, faithless, and stripped of any critical thinking or logic.
PinkoOfTheGange
Don’t feed the lil poo. He is most likely just another frickin’ incel.
pharaon.em.joe
Actually.. he is probably the biggest slut on grindr.
Paco
Marriage isn’t even “holy” for most heterosexuals. Their jeebus was against divorce.
MadHatter
This is shocking! Who the fcuk still uses Facebook?
Kangol
Billions of people use Facebook. The article’s about Grindr, though.
iamru2
He’s hot I want to pound him till he squirts to teach him a lesson!
pharaon.em.joe
YES! Do it… i BET that’s what he really wants.
Ed
This is the full post according to the New York Times translated from Chinese. It is easy to take things out of context as Queerty very often does to fit the narrative you want in order to get more readers to see their ads.
Some people think that marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman, I think so too, but that’s your own business.
Some people think that the purpose of marriage is to bring up children with your own DNA, but that’s your own business.
But there are people who aren’t the same as you, and desperately hope that they can also get married; they have their own reasons for wanting that.
Getting married is personal. If you have money, can’t you donate to people suffering from poverty, hunger, war or natural disasters, those who are truly in need of it? Why do you spend so much money to prevent people in love from getting married? Aren’t there other important things in your life?
It’s true, I won’t buy HTC products for the rest of my life, and I won’t donate any money to Taiwan’s Christian groups ever again for the rest of my life!
pharaon.em.joe
So he used to donate… i see…
Bryguyf69
pharaon.em.joe – So what? The flaw n your criticism is that you fail to differentiate between Christian groups and anti-gay groups. You do realize that “Taiwan’s Christian groups:” do a lot more than fight marriage equality, right? In fact, gay marriage has only become an issue in Taiwan in the last few years. Prior to that, those groups mostly did charity and relief work — things that most gays would/should support. Or they kept to themselves. Unlike the US, religion plays almost no governmental role in most of Asia (with Christian Philippines, md Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia being exceptions) So the fact that he donated to Christian organizations is only natural, given his family’s Christianity.
frankcar1965
No Asians!
screwtop
It’s also a union between a woman and a woman – and a union between a man and a man – and a union between a transgender and a bisexual.
Oh – and by the way, even elephants marry each other for life.
This Chen guy should wipe his glasses with a lens cleaner – he’s wearing them – but not seeing anything.
Donston
It’s kinda strange that you’d call out someone who married a trans person as being “bi” instead of just saying a trans person marrying a cis gender person, which was your initial method when describing the other gender relationships. Many people who marry someone of their same sex are all over the romantic/sexual/emotional/relationship spectrum and not purely “homosexual”. While many people who enter relationships with trans people don’t consider themselves “bi”. In fact, the one person I know who is in a relationship with a trans person goes with the ever vague “queer” but identifies as “pan” when necessary. While someone I know who used to be in a relationship with a trans person identifies as “gay”. I very briefly dated a trans person and identify as a gay-pansexual. Having a relationship with a trans person doesn’t you embrace “bi”, just as having a past relationship with someone of the opposite cis gender doesn’t mean you see yourself as “straight”, just as being in a relationship with someone of your same sex doesn’t mean that you embrace “gay”.
PinkoOfTheGange
We really should stop whining about people that think differently then us but don’t do anything that stops us.
The demand for perfect allegiance is really getting tiresome.
80% is all we should ask of allies.
Donston
I personally don’t demand “perfect allegiance”. I don’t even care about the whole “allies” trope, which got lame quite a while ago. I know I have contradictory feelings about a lot of things. I’m also aware that anyone who purchases something like Grindr, it’s a business acquisition only. People in general need to stop looking towards the corporate world, the entertainment industry, the porn industry, etc. for support and insight and understanding. That stuff is about money and a couple other things above all else.
I just don’t like phoniness and people who try to cover up their BS with more BS. But ultimately, if you got a problem with what he said then don’t use his app.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Sooooo over Grindr…..
CarlIsle
I don’t know why guys still use Grindr. I went off it when they added “woman” under the section where you select what you identify as. FFS! It’s an app for gay, bi and curious men to meet other men. How does it follow to be there if you identify as a woman?
Also the annoying pop up ads!
I wish gay guys would delete the app en masse so it’s popularity plummets.