There will be no Grindr’ing of Turkey

KAOS GL, a Turkish LGBTI rights organisation, has spoken out against the Turkish government for banning the gay dating app Grindr.

When Grindr users go to log into the app they are met with the following message:

“The decision no 2013/406 dated 26/08/2013, which is given about this website (grindr.com) within the context of protection measure, of Istanbul Anatolia 14th Criminal Court of Peace has been implemented by Telecommunications Communication Presidency.”

Which, according to a lawyer for KAOS GL, means that the app’s online database and website have been censored by the 14th Criminal Court of Istanbul as a ‘protection measure’.

The lawyer continued in a statement: “The court decision is not published online and so we have no access to the procuration and therefore do not yet know what was the reason for the censorship. It is most likely related to ‘general morality’, an ambiguous term used often against trans sex workers.”