Happy Pride everyone! Whether you are single, in love, or somewhere in between, June for queer folk can be a beautiful time to make new friends, go on dates, and live openly and authentically. 

As joyful as Pride can be, it can also be lonely. I feel shame about my shame in June. There’s so much pressure to be this confident, bold, prideful, queer person, and I sometimes have a hard time embracing myself fully. Even if you have come out and are living authentically, we each have a different relationship with our queerness. I’m learning the ways my queerness can ebb and flow through pride and shame periodically. I sit at home, in the office, on my commute wondering ‘am I the only one who feels this way?’. 

According to Tinder, no. I am not the only one. And neither are you. Tinder just released a list of statistics they collected from queer people that are sure to make you feel less alone in your queer experience, and maybe gain the confidence to hop back on the apps to discover friends, lovers, and companions.

SheDoesTheCity attended a Tinder event on Queen St. W to hear more about the following statistics, pulled from Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ Tinder users aged 18-34. Our June Artist of The Month, Haley Robinson, was in attendance, with lots of perspective to share. 

A few things that spoke to me:

  • 38% of queer online daters define their sexual orientation as something other than gay or bisexual. As a queer person who doesn’t identify with either of these terms, it’s exciting to know that the lesbians, queer, and pan girlies are on the apps and proud to declare their identity openly. It makes me feel more comfortable in the exploration of these labels, and confident that I might find someone who gets me.
  • 69% of queer people agree or strongly agree that dating apps are a great way to meet new people generally, even if it ends in friendship. So if you don’t like someone like that, and just want to be buddies, there’s a 69 (teehee) percent chance that your date will be down just to hang as friends.
  • There’s also a level of exploration that can be expressed on dating apps. 86% of queer people are very or somewhat open to exploring relationships outside of their historical preferences. Meaning if you’ve always loved soft mascs, when you’re scrolling on Tinder, you might be more open to swiping right on a femme butch, enby bisexual, or lipstick lesbian than you would be in real life. Everyone’s just looking for love!
  • And my ultimate favourite… 2 in 3 Tinder users agree or strongly agree that online dating plays a significant role in fostering connections and relationships within the LGBTQ+ community. Wow. These online connections, personas, and conversations are likely to lead to a stronger queer community in real life, which is what we all seek. Friendship, community, understanding, love, and freedom.

Happy Pride everyone. Happy swiping!