Grindr Exec Landon Rae Zumwalt Resigns After Company Prez Says Marriage Is Between ‘Man and a Woman’

LAS VEGAS, NV — (12-11-18) — Popular Gay dating app Grindr, is going through a major shift. Head of communications Landon Rae Zumwalt resigns after Grindr president Scott Chen, posted on Facebook his stance on same-sex marriage.

“The gay dating app’s director of communications said Scott Chen’s opinion “goes against everything I am and everything I believe.” – Landon Rae Zumwalt

Heads are turning as Grindr Communications Director Landon Rae Zumwalt calls it quits after the company’s president said marriage is between a Man and a Woman.

In this reporter’s opinion, the popular gay dating app Grindr has had its problems over the years with customers hooking up with people for a date and instead wind up getting robbed or, suffering from hate crime attacks. Now, the gay app is drawing eye brows from the very audience they are making a fortune over.

Landon Rae Zumwalt resigned after a Facebook post made by Grindr’s president, Scott Chen, which said that he was opposed to same-sex marriage.

Zumwalt shared his thoughts on his decision to resign from Grindr in an open letter published on Medium Dec. 7.

“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, who resides in Los Angeles, wrote. “While that resulted in my time at Grindr being cut short, I have absolutely no regrets. And neither should you.”

According to the Facebook translation on the now deleted post, Chen wrote, “Some people think that marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman, I think so too, but that’s your own business,” wrote Chen, in Chinese.

Scott Chen immediately responded in the comments section to the INTO article saying that the article which included a clumsy translation of the post automatically generated by Facebook, was unbalanced and misleading.”

“The reason I said marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman is based on my own personal experience,” said Chen. “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.” said Chen.

The president of Grindr also slammed INTO for not asking him for comment prior to publishing its story. But Zach Stafford, the editor in chief of INTO, said the reporter on the story asked for comment from Scott Chen but allegedly never received a response.

According to Scott Chen, his original Facebook post was in response to the heavily defeated same-sex marriage referendum in Taiwan. On the same day he posted his comment, Chen shared his opinions Into an article based on the founder of HTC, a Chinese tech company currently supporting groups that opposed same-sex marriage.

To be fair and balanced, bellow is Scott Chen’s post, translated from Chinese:

“Some people think that marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman, I think so too, but that’s your own business. Some people think that the purpose of marriage is to bring up children with your own DNA, but that’s your own business.

But there are people who aren’t the same as you, and desperately hope that they can also get married; they have their own reasons for wanting that.

Getting married is personal. If you have money, can’t you donate to people suffering from poverty, hunger, war or natural disasters, those who are truly in need of it? Why do you spend so much money to prevent people in love from getting married? Aren’t there other important things in your life?

It’s true, I won’t buy HTC products for the rest of my life, and I won’t donate any money to Taiwan’s Christian groups ever again for the rest of my life!”

JRL CHARTS reached out to Grindr for comment but have yet to receive a response. However Out Magazine was able to get a response from a Grindr spokesperson as to the reason for Zumwalt’s sudden resignation. “We wish him the best in his future endeavors and appreciate his contributions to the company and the Grindr community,” said spokesperson for Grindr.

Of course the story went viral in LGBTQ mainstream outlets as well as several of the big mainstream publications such as The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Needless to say responses were swift among LGBTQ dating apps’ competitors who condemned the translated remarks by Scott Chen on social media and in interviews.

Now of course the question is, how much damage will Grindr receive in lost revenue from the LGBTQ community? Time will tell.

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer