Grindr Communications Director Quits After Marriage Remarks Made By Company President

An openly-gay communications director for an openly-gay social networking app has left the company because he disagrees with family values of the app's president. Landon Rafe Zumwalt, who was head of communications for Grindr, announced Friday he can't defend a statement made by Grindr president Scott Chen, who said he believes in traditional marriage between a man and a woman. "As an out and proud gay man madly in love with a man I don't deserve, I refused to compromise my own values or professional integrity to defend a statement that goes against everything I am and everything I believe," Zumwalt wrote on medium.com. "While that resulted in my time at Grindr being cut short, I have absolutely no regrets. And neither should you." The Grindr president wrote on his Facebook page: "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." This was reported by various outlets and journalists, including queerty.com, pride.com and out.com. Chen also wrote: "Some people think the purpose of the marriage is to have a child carries your own DNA. But again, this is your own business." Chen wrote more in his letter, but explained his stance in the fact he is married to a woman he loves, and "I have two beautiful daughters I love from the marriage." Chen goes on to say his idea of marriage is simply different than others, and "you can't deny my feelings about my marriage." He concludes his statement by saying he's a "huge advocate for LGBTQ+ rights since I was young," and that he supports gay marriage and "I am proud that I work for Grindr." Zumwalt further wrote in his letter, "It has been a privilege to come to work every day to fight for our community. I am—and will continue to be—immensely proud of the work we were allowed to do during my time at Grindr." "I will never forget the heart-tugging messages, emails and more that we received from the queer community as a result of our Kindr initiative. Nor will I forget being a witness firsthand to the amazing activism work Grindr for Equality is doing globally or working alongside the award-winning reporting team at INTO." INTO, which is owned by Grindr, published a screenshot of Chen's statement. On Grindr.com, it states that since its launch in 2009, it has evolved into the "largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people." It claims to have millions of daily users tracked in nearly every country "in every corner of the planet." Zumwalt finished his letter by asking remaining Grindr employees to persist and "make your voices heard."