Tinder's new gender options have led to matches for 250,000 trans people

It’s been less than six months since Tinder began offering 37 options for gender identification, but their users have been quick to embrace it.

Sean Rad, the dating app’s co-founder, revealed on Friday that they’ve matched a quarter of a million transgender users since November. The announcement was made during a SXSW panel called “Swiping Right on Inclusivity with Tinder & GLAAD.”

Users were previously limited to identifying only as male or female, and trans people especially were subject to a great deal of harassment as a result. In response to that, Tinder made a push to be more inclusive and has partnered with GLAAD to achieve that.

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Rad said during the panel, “Tinder is about everyone, everyone’s welcome and everyone deserves to meet someone special.” Creating the new gender options was part of the effort, but the company has also pushed to educate both their users and staff, and also implemented a more careful approach to moderating the app to keep harassment to a minimum.

While it's certainly a positive sign on a human level that they're becoming more inclusive, it's also no doubt a shrewd move by Tinder as they face increasingly strong competition for users from other, more niche -- especially LGBTQ-specific -- apps.

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