On OkCupid, Love Always Wins- Celebrating Pride Month

It’s officially June, the month of Pride! While the world has been celebrating rainbow colors and what they stand for - visibility and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community for some time now, pride month in India is even more special this year. Six months ago, the Supreme Court’s decision to scrap Article 377 started this country on a journey that is proved - love is love.   The landmark judgement introduced us to countless stories that have remained uncelebrated for too long, with individuals across lines coming out in support of the community, garnering the much-needed attention. While there is still a long way to go, the landmark judgment is a ray of hope for an inclusive future where forcing heteronormative gender labels will be a thing of the past. LGBT-Pride-Month At OkCupid, we always believed that everyone deserves the right to represent themselves as they are and be loved for it. In 2004, we added a bevy of nontraditional profile options for users to express their gender identity and sexuality. These options—which included asexual, genderfluid, pansexual, sapiosexual, and transgender categories—were added to make the website more inclusive. In 2019, includes 13 sexual orientations and 22 gender identities to help every person present their truest self in the quest for a meaningful match. We take great pride in having led this movement amongst dating apps.   Since last year, users in India have actively added their responses to the app’s questions.  While the OkCupid community is both inclusive and progressive, through the questions on the app, we gathered some interesting data about how single Indian respond to LGBTQ issues as members of the community and otherwise. How much do you care about LGBTQ+ issues? 68 percent of men and 90 percent of women say that they care a lot about LGBTQ+ issues. Women express greater empathy towards the community than men.   How do you feel about the term “queer”? While it is true that labels should be avoided, 43 percent OkCupid users of the community love and use the term to refer to the LGBTQ+ community. However, a large section of users (39 percent) are indifferent to its use. The remaining consider it a slur.   Are you out to your co-workers and/or other random acquaintances?   Surprisingly, only 19 percent of users in the LGBTQ+ community is completely out to their co-workers and/or random acquaintances whereas 48 percent of users have responded saying that they are partially out to their peers.   However, a majority of users are more comfortable coming out to their family with 44 percent users from the community confiding in their family about their sexuality. 37 percent of users have partially let their family members know.   Would you participate in a public demonstration to demand LGBTQ+ equality? 66 percent of men and 76 percent of women would willingly participate in a public demonstration to demand and fight for LGBTQ+ rights.   Do you have any gay, bisexual, or transgender friends? 66 percent of women who answered the question said they have friends who identify as LGBTQ+ compared to 40 percent of men on the app.   Should gay marriage be legalized? 55 percent of men and 82 percent of women on the OkCupid community believe that it is time for the next step and that gay marriage must be legalized in the country. While 36 percent men and 15 percent women still contemplating on the question by saying that they are not sure. A small percentage says no to it.   Do you ever use gay as an insult or pejorative 82 percent men and 92 percent women strongly believe that using the term gay as an insult is highly disrespectful, no matter the situation. For more information, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Download our magazine Spunky Indian for exclusive stories.