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Scott Chen, the straight president of the world's largest gay dating app, believes marriage is a "holy matrimony between a man and a woman."
Scott Chen, the president of gay hook-up app Grindr, wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post that he believes marriage is a "holy matrimony between a man and a woman," reportedInto, the LGBTQ site that Grindr owns. What's more is the article has now devolved into an internal public squabble between Chen and the writer of the article, Mathew Rodriguez, that is playing out in the comments section of the story.
On his personal Facebook page, Chen echoed the sentiment of voters in Taiwan, who this past weekend voted down the possibility of marriage equality and defined marriage as an opposite-sex union. Chen revealed his beliefs when he shared an Into article on November 26 (ahead of the vote in Taiwan) about Cher Wang, the president and CEO of HTC, the nonprofit that backed anti-LGBTQ American organizations that sought to ban marriage equality in Taiwan. Chen's Facebook post has since been deleted but users took screenshots they sent to Into.
"There are people who believe that marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman," Chen wrote, according to a translation provided by Into. "I agree but that's none of our business. There are also people who believe that the purpose of marriage is to create children that carry their DNA. That's also none of our business. There are people that are simply different from you, who desperately want to get married. They have their own reasons."
When faced with negative reaction, Chen backpedaled and responded that marriage is a "personal issue." He also vowed to never donate to HTC or to Taiwan-based Christian charities.
The Into story on the Facebook posts clearly angered Chen, who claimed he was never asked for comment from his own employee. Below the Into story, Chen left the following comment for the writer, Rodriguez:
"Matthew, I wish you asked my comments before you publish this. This article is unbalanced and misleading. It hurts my feelings and it also hurts INTO's and Grindr's reputation. First, let me translate the comments in Chinese here correctly.
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. Some people think the purpose of the marriage is to have a child carries your DNA. But again, that's your own business.
Marriage is personal. Why can't you use your money to help the people suffer from poverty, hunger, war or disasters? Why would you want to spend your money on preventing people who love each other from getting married? There is nothing else more important in your life?
The reason I said marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman is based on my own personal experience. I am a straight man married to a woman I love and I have two beautiful daughters I love from the marriage. This is how I feel about my marriage. Different people have their different feelings about their marriages. You can't deny my feelings about my marriage."
Chen continued to contradict himself. He ended his comment to Rodriguez by saying, "I am a huge advocate for LGBTQ+ rights since I was young. I support gay marriage and I am proud that I can work for Grindr."
Grindr, begun by gay California man Joel Simkhai in 2011, was fully purchased by the Chinese corporation Kunlun earlier this year.
