Tinder's Newest Feature: Warnings for LGBTQs When They Travel to Hostile Countries

Tinder, in partnership with the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), is bringing a new feature to its popular dating app: A "Traveler Alert" that will not only give LGBTQ users a heads-up when they arrive in nations where their sexuality may be criminalized but will also shield them from local authorities who may try to use apps to locate and entrap sexual minorities.

CNN reported on the new feature, noting that sexual minorities are criminalized in 70 countries around the world. The report said that when users who have identified as LGBTQ enter such a nation, the app will automatically keep their profile unavailable if it indicates their sexual orientation or gender identity. The new feature will automatically activate when users find themselves in 69 of those nations – 11 of which persecute non-heterosexuals with the death penalty.

Similar safety precautions will hold for users of Tinder Passport, which enables users in one country to match with users elsewhere in the world.

The new feature follows last month's rollout by Tinder of a panoply of new orientation and gender options that can be selected by users for their profiles. As reported at EDGE, those recent additions allow users to identify as "Woman," "Man," or "Transwoman." Users can also tag themselves as "Straight," "Gay," "Lesbian," "Bisexual," "Pansexual," "Asexual," "Queer," or "Questioning," and set their preferences so that they are shown the profiles of "Women," "Men," or "Everyone."

TIME Magazine reported on the new feature, quoting the executive director of the ILGA, Andr� du Plessis, as saying, "We work hard to change practices, laws, and attitudes that put LGBTQ people at risk – including the use of dating apps to target us – but in the meantime, the safety of our communities also depends on supporting their digital safety."

Maria Sj�din, the deputy director of OutRight International, told TIME that it is "important that all dating apps recognize that they have users who are LGBTQ people.

"And I think it's important that they recognize that in many countries and in many societies, people do face violence and discrimination," Sj�din added.

This new level of awareness comes at a time when non-heterosexuals face increasing violence even in nations where pursuing their natural romantic and sexual attraction is not illegal. As apps have begun taking precautions that their electronic wares do not put users in danger, travel guides are also beginning to take note of international trends in anti-LGBTQ violence.

dw.com reports that Gay travel guide Spartacus recently expressed concern that Germany has now become a less desirable destination for LGBTQ travelers.

Germany has long a haven of acceptance for LGBTQs, but it is also a nation where gays faced arrest, concentration camps, and death during the Holocaust. Even after World War II's end, German gays continued to be criminalized for decades under that nation's notorious Paragraph 174.

An increase in the influence of right-wing politics in Germany has brought fear to LGBTQs there, dw.com noted and paralleled a spike in anti-LGBTQ bias crimes. Germany is not alone in seeing rising rates of anti-gay violence; similar trends have been in effect for the past few years in England and the United States. In the U.S., bias crimes soared in the wake of the 2016 elections. A recent study has shown that hate crimes increased by more than 200% in places where Trump rallies took place.

As a seeming extension of those trends, the Trump administration has taken a number of actions against America's LGBTQ citizens and families. Given those developments, it might not be too much longer before American Tinder users don't need to leave the U.S. at all in order for the new safety feature to come into play.