'Fun, spontaneous and full of love': what three years of same-sex marriages looks like in Australia
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/...ke-in-australia



When Cynthia Nelson first heard about same-sex marriage in San Francisco in the 1980s, she wasn’t sure it was achievable in Australia.

“I didn’t believe it would become legal in my lifetime. In fact, I thought it was an unworthy goal for the LGBT movement – not only unattainable but too conservative, too mainstream,” the Sydney-based author and academic says.

“My thinking changed because my lesbian friends in the US who were mothers to young kids explained how much it meant to their kids – and their kids’ friends – when their families became equal in the eyes of the law.”

Now, three years on from the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia, she is married to poet and author Tricia Dearborn, who she met in 2004 on lesbian dating website Pink Sofa.

Dearborn says when the couple first campaigned for marriage equality together in 2011, they still weren’t sure they wanted to get married.

“But if I decided I did, I wanted to have that option,” she says. “I was totally behind the marriage equality campaign in the lead-up to the postal survey. I still wear my ‘I voted yes’ T-shirt.”

Although more than 60% of of their compatriots voted yes to marriage equality in the 2017 national postal survey, many within the LGBT community still say the accompanying national debate about the validity of their relationships has left scars.

“It was a completely unnecessary, irresponsible, enormous waste of time and money that gave bigots a platform and fostered a debate that traumatised a lot of people,” Dearborn says.

Still, when the House of Representatives voted on 8 December 2017, and all but three MPs in the chamber voted to legalise same-sex marriage (some, including the current prime minister, abstained from the vote), it was an extraordinary sight, she says.

“Cynthia arrived home while the cheering and applause [in parliament] – which went for some time – was still going. We cracked a bottle of bubbly.”

The couple was engaged in November 2019, planning a big 2020 wedding, but then the pandemic hit. Instead, Dearborn and Nelson held a Covid-safe wedding at the end of October in the rotunda in Sydney’s Camperdown Park.

“Friends described it as very ‘us’: fun and spontaneous and full of love. I flubbed a few lines during the ceremony, but even that was fun, seeing our nearest and dearest laughing their heads off, while also crying with joy,” Nelson says.

“The biggest surprise in the lead-up to the wedding was that my mother – who had disowned me when I came out as a lesbian and refused to speak to me for 32 years – wired money for our wedding cake!”

The pair are just one of more than 14,000 same-sex couples who have married in Australia in the past three years.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released last month showed that in 2018 and 2019 there were 12,045 same-sex marriages, making up 4.8% of all marriages in Australia in 2019.

There were more same-sex marriages in 2019 between women than men (58.9% to 41.1%), and the average age for men to marry was 39.3 years versus 36.5 for women.

Although Nelson and Dearborn defied the odds and married during the pandemic, according to data from the state and territory births deaths and marriages registries, the number of same-sex marriages, and marriages in general, declined significantly in 2020.

Out of the states and territories that provided data for 2020 (all bar South Australia and the ACT), there had been just over 2,000 same-sex marriages as of early November across Australia.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded a 30% decline in the number of marriages in the first six months of 2020, however nearly 10,000 couples – of all genders – still married between April and June, when most of the country was still in lockdown.

Mara Gomez is the first transgender woman to play at football professional level
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnew...onal-level.html



Mara Gomez has become the first transgender woman to play professional football after being authorised to do so by the Argentine Football Association (AFA) ahead of her historic debut in the country's top-flight.

Women's top-flight club Athletic Club Villa San Carlos first announced the signing of the 23-year-old back in January this year.

However, the trans striker then entered into talks with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) to try and convince them that her background does not give her an unfair advantage over other women in the league.

Mara also used blood samples to show that her testosterone levels are within the parameters designated by the International Olympic Committee for transgender athletes.

The AFA then authorised the striker to participate in the 2020 Transition Tournament, part of the country's top-flight First Division of Women's Football, according to a statement by the club on 4th December.

She made her debut in Villa San Carlos' match against Athletic Club Lanus later on Monday. She started as Lanus ran out 7-1 winners, and she was reduced to tears after the game as she received an opposition shirt with her name on it.

It is unclear if she is expected to be in the starting line up, however her name has been included in the squad, according to a social media post by the club.

The statement added: 'After a hard battle and a long wait, Mara Stefania Gomez is able to defend our colours. This news is historical and without precedence for women's football as she is the first trans player to play professionally.'

According to local media, Mara said that she turned to football after suffering discrimination for being transgender, and her love for the sport kept her from acting on suicidal thoughts.

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The sky's the limit.

Another gay malay male reporting in

Hello hello welcome!

Hugs

Just wondering....

I have many gay friends but have not met any lesbians... Do we also have lotsa les here? 🤔

I'm totally the same. 90% of my friends are gay guys...

I think there were a couple of lesbians commenting here previously.

Retiree launches new legal bid to scrap Singapore’s gay sex ban
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/...es-gay-sex-ban/



KUALA LUMPUR: A retired doctor has filed a fresh legal challenge to force the Singaporean government to either fully enforce or introduce legislation to scrap a colonial-era law that can jail men for engaging in gay sex.

Tan Seng Kee, 62, a prominent LGBT+ advocate better known as Roy Tan, launched his legal bid in Singapore’s High Court this week to target a section of the country’s penal code — known as Section 377A — that criminalises gay sex.

“It’s a recourse that every citizen has when adversely affected by the administration of the law by the government,” Tan said on Friday.

“Once the administration of law is inconsistent due to a policy or action of the government, we can have recourse at the High Court or Court of Appeal to force the government to undo their action or policy,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Section 377A can imprison men for engaging in gay sex for up to two years, although prosecutions are rare in the modern but socially conservative city-state.

Singapore has a vibrant LGBT+ scene and last year Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that while LGBT people are welcome to work in the country, Section 377A would remain “for some time”, according to media reports.

Singapore’s ministry of home affairs did not respond to requests for a comment.

Tan was part of a similar challenge that focused on constitutional rights and was rejected by the High Court in March but is now with the Court of Appeal.

The petitions in Singapore were launched after India scrapped a similar law in 2018.

Across Asia, socially conservative attitudes prevail with Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei banning sexual relationships between men, and Indonesia seeing an increase in raids targeting LGBT+ people in recent years.

The argument of inconsistencies in Singaporean law that is being used in the latest legal action had rarely been used before, said Tan.

“There are two ways they can do this: the first way is to make 377A enforceable again but that would be unthinkable because it would mean every gay man who had sex in private would have to be hauled up to the police,” he said.

“The best option would be to get rid of Section 377A completely and that in one fell swoop would eliminate all these inconsistencies, which is what I’m aiming for,” added Tan, who helped organise Singapore’s first Pink Dot gay pride rally.

The latest High Court bid is expected to be heard in 10 months but will be scrapped if the constitutional challenge case is a success at the Court of Appeal first, said Tan.

M Ravi, a human rights lawyer representing Tan in his High Court bid, said not reporting or enforcing parts of the penal code — either by citizens or police — was “problematic”.

“(The government) have already acknowledged that 377A should not be proactively enforced because it is deemed discriminatory,” he said.

“We know that they cannot go back. The only way is to repeal 377A completely.”

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The success of this constitutional challenge can potentially be used as a precedent for Malaysia too if someone decides to launch similar challenge here. I hope the result will be positive!

In conservative Indonesia, a gay ex-policeman takes his battle to court
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2020/...battle-to-court



JAKARTA (Reuters) - The first gay Indonesian policeman to sue the conservative country's police force for wrongful dismissal due to sexual orientation was back in courts this week, determined to be reinstated.

Tri Teguh Pujianto, a 31-year-old former police brigadier was fired in 2018 after 10 years on the job, after police in a different town apprehended him and his partner on Valentine's Day when they were saying goodbyes at his partner's workplace.

The landmark case in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation was initially thrown out last year after a judge told Teguh he had to wait until the police internal appeals process was completed. That is now over and Teguh refiled his suit in August in what rights groups say is the first case of its kind.

"This is my fight, my last-ditch effort," Teguh told Reuters.

"Why won't they judge my service for all those years? Why exaggerate my mistakes, which I don't think were mistakes anyway?"

With the exception of sharia-ruled Aceh province where same-sex relations are banned, homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia although it is generally considered a taboo subject.

The Southeast Asian country is, however, becoming less tolerant of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community as some Indonesian politicians become more vocal about having Islam play a larger role in the state.

A survey by the Pew Research Center this year also showed that 80% of Indonesians believe homosexuality "should not be accepted by society".

Discrimination and violent attacks against LGBT people have increased in recent years and police have prosecuted members of the community using anti-pornography and other laws. Lawmakers from four political parties this year have also been trying to garner support, so far unsuccessfully, to pass a bill requiring LGBT people to seek treatment at rehabilitation centres.

The Central Java police have accused Teguh of violating "ethical codes of the national police... by the deviant act of having same-sex intercourse," a court document shows.

Teguh's legal team said they are challenging what they call the "elastic" nature of the police code of conduct given there is no mention of sexual orientation in police regulations.

Representatives for the Central Java Police, National Police and the National Police Commission did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Dede Oetomo, a gay scholar who runs the advoacy group GAYa NUSANTARA, said Teguh had made history, whether he wins his case or not.

"He's broken the mould because he's brave," he said. "My hope is that more activists will emerge from cases like his."

Teguh now runs a barber shop, a side business that he started in 2013. He said he's always had the support of family and his friends in the force for his efforts to regain what has been his dream job since high school.

Asked why he is persevering, Teguh said he was fighting not only for himself.

"I want to fight for basic human rights, so there will no longer be arbitrary actions taken against minorities," he said.

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That is a bold move. You have my Salute

"I want to fight for basic human rights, so there will no longer be arbitrary actions taken against minorities,"

Hi guys, I want to introduce a very touching Japanese small series about transgender. The title is 私が私であるために. I’ve watch it previously but cannot locate the site. Anyone can help me with this?

Bhutan Becomes Latest Asian Nation to Dial Back Anti-Gay Laws
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/12/world/as...alizes-gay.html



HONG KONG — The kingdom of Bhutan prides itself on maximizing “gross national happiness,” but it doesn’t always feel that way to members of the country’s L.G.B.T. community.

Stigma and discrimination are rife, activists say, and it’s common for gay people to be blackmailed. “These are the issues that don’t get talked about, but this is the reality,” said Tashi Tsheten, a founding member of the local advocacy group Rainbow Bhutan.

This week, however, lawmakers in the Himalayan country voted to amend a line from Bhutan’s penal code that criminalizes “sodomy or any other sexual conduct that is against the order of nature,” previously treated as a reference to gay sex.

The move, which still needs the king’s approval to become law, was the latest example of an Asian government loosening restrictive laws governing the private lives of L.G.B.T. people.

In neighboring India, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down one of the world’s oldest bans on consensual gay sex in 2018, ruling that gay Indians were to be accorded all the protections of the Constitution.

Last year, lawmakers in Taiwan voted to legalize same-sex marriage, a first for Asia. That gave new leverage to activists campaigning for marriage equality in Japan and beyond.

And in July, Thailand’s cabinet said that it had approved a draft bill that would give same-sex unions many of the same benefits as heterosexual marriages. The legislation avoided the term “marriage,” but allowed for the legal registration of same-sex partnerships.

Bhutan’s new law, which passed both houses of Parliament on Thursday, “folds Bhutan into the global momentum toward recognizing equality for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people,” said Kyle Knight, a senior researcher in the L.G.B.T. rights program at Human Rights Watch who has written about the law.

However, he added, “Bhutan still has significant work to do to ensure that the rights of people who have been long marginalized on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity are fully protected.”

Bhutan’s penal code was introduced in 2004, four years before this Buddhist-majority nation of 800,000 people held its first elections as part of a transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional democracy. Much of the code was adopted from criminal laws in the United States, according to a recent analysis by the legal scholars Dema Lham and Stanley Yeo.

The parts about sodomy and “unnatural sex,” though, are identical to language in other penal codes around South Asia that was copied from the Indian Penal Code, a law introduced in the 1860s by the British colonial authorities, said Mr. Tsheten, the Bhutanese activist. Individuals charged with “unnatural sex” acts in Bhutan would be subject to penalties consistent with a petty misdemeanor.

The campaign to amend anti-gay language in Bhutan’s penal code did not involve much direct lobbying from L.G.B.T. activists, Mr. Tsheten said, in part because formally registering a gay rights advocacy group in the country could be interpreted to mean that you were “standing up for criminals.”

Instead, he said, it grew out of an effort to help the Health Ministry prevent H.I.V. in the country’s gay community. “What we did was just show people in Bhutan that we exist,” he said.

The ministry became an ally because it recognized that the penal code’s reference to “unnatural sex” could prevent gay and bisexual men from seeking H.I.V. treatment. And when the penal code came up for review last year, Finance Minister Namgay Tshering — who had previously worked at the Health Ministry and the World Bank — stood up in Parliament to insist that the outdated language be repealed.

“My primary reason is that this section is there since 2004 but it has become so redundant and has never been enforced,” Mr. Tshering said. “It is also an eyesore for international human rights bodies.”

When Bhutan’s lawmakers voted on Thursday to amend the penal code’s reference to “unnatural sex,” Pema Dorji, an L.G.B.T. activist who was sitting in the chamber, was so nervous that he could not watch.

“I just closed my eyes,” said Mr. Dorji, a founding member of the advocacy group Queer Voices of Bhutan. “I was looking at the floor the whole time as I waited for them to raise their hands.”

Ugyen Wangdi, a lawmaker on a panel considering the changes, told Reuters on Thursday that 63 of Bhutan’s 69 lawmakers had voted to amend the penal code. The other six were absent.

The language about “unnatural sex” will reman in the code, Mr. Tsheten said, but will now be followed by a sentence clarifying that “homosexuality between adults” does not meet that definition.

He said that while the amended language “opens up a lot of doors” for Bhutan’s L.G.B.T. community, there would be no shortage of homophobia to overcome. Gay friends of his who have been blackmailed, for example, have been forced to change schools[ or start new social media profiles.

“You get a very hostile sense,” he said, “that your friends or colleagues would not be supportive if you came out.”

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A growing number of Asian countries are starting to get into their senses. Malaysia bila?

Federal Court told only Parliament can criminalise ‘unnatural sex’, state govt no power to introduce as Shariah offence



PUTRAJAYA, Dec 14 — The offence of committing “unnatural sex” is a criminal matter that only the federal government — via Parliament — has the powers to make laws on, while state governments lack the power to make state laws to criminalise and punish it as a Shariah offence, a lawyer argued in the Federal Court today.

Today was the hearing by a nine-man panel at the Federal Court of a Malaysian Muslim man’s constitutional challenge against a Selangor state law that makes unnatural sex a Shariah offence in the state, with the challenge revolving around whether the Selangor state government had the power to make state Shariah laws on the offence.

This Shariah offence, which the man was charged with in the Shariah courts in Selangor, is Section 28 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995.

Section 28 makes it a Shariah offence for “any person” performing “sexual intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”, with the punishment being a maximum fine of RM5,000 or a maximum three-year jail term or a maximum whipping of six strokes or any combination.

Lawyer Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, who represented the man, explained that the case today involved the key question of the Federal Constitution’s limits on what the state government can make laws on.

While the Federal Constitution gives state governments the powers to make laws on certain Islamic matters such as offences against the religion of Islam, Imtiaz pointed out that the Federal Constitution at the same time carries the condition that such state laws should not be on matters that are already within the powers of the federal government to make laws on.

“So under the Constitution, the criminal system of law is in Parliament’s hands. So Parliament has what we say exclusive powers to create the laws pertaining to the criminal justice system — that means the laws, the prosecution, sentencing, everything.

“So then we have this exception for offences against the religion of Islam, which the state can make. So the question for the court is how to reconcile the two powers, because strictly speaking any offence is a matter of criminal law, and if that is correct, then that has to be in Parliament’s power.

“Because the power in the state is also said as being qualified to the extent that it is not in the federal list, so that’s the issue before the court.

“So what we argued today is a matter of substance, this offence is a criminal offence falling within the federal list. And just because you put a term ‘Islamic’ on it, doesn’t change it from a criminal law or a criminal offence to one of Islamic offence, because the substance of the offence is the same going both ways,” he explained to reporters when met after the hearing at the Federal Court.

Federal government’s powers vs state government’s powers

In the Federal Constitution’s Ninth Schedule, List I which is also known as the Federal List states what the federal government via Parliament can make laws on, while List II which is also the State List states the matters which state governments through their respective state legislative assemblies can make laws on.

Citing the State List in the Federal Constitution, Imtiaz highlighted that it allows state governments to make state laws on the “creation and punishment of offences by persons professing the religion of Islam against precepts of that religion, except in regard to matters included in the Federal List”, stressing that this carries the condition or acts as a “preclusion clause” to exclude the state government from making laws on matters that are in the Federal List or fall under the federal government’s jurisdiction.

Imtiaz then highlighted the Federal List in the Federal Constitution, which covers matters such as internal security, police, criminal investigation, prisons, civil and criminal law and procedure and the administration of justice, and creation of offences in respect of any matters included in the Federal List or dealt with by federal law.

In arguing that the state governments have no power to make unnatural sex a Shariah offence through state laws, Imtiaz highlighted that the federal government or Parliament has already made unnatural sex an offence through a federal law known as the Penal Code.

“There’s a provision in Parliament, the Penal Code is there, it provides the same offence, there cannot be two offences administered by two separate bodies,” he said during the hearing.

Read more: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/202...te-govt/1931815

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The lawyers are not questioning whether homosexuality is okay or not but whether or not as a Muslim, somone should be charged TWO times (one in civil court and one in syariah courts) for commiting "unnatural sex". They have made some great arguments and I believe the judges will be wise enough to see how prejudice the law is and decide to scrape it off soon.

Gay rights progress, but same-sex relations still a crime in 69 states: Report
Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/...-in-69-13775542



GENEVA: Despite significant progress on gay rights around the world, dozens of countries still criminalise consensual same-sex activity, including six where being gay is punishable by death, campaigners said on Tuesday (Dec 15).

In a fresh report, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) found "considerable progress" in legal protections for LGBT people worldwide.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created significant additional challenges for LGBT and other minority communities, "positive developments have taken place," the organisation said.

But while the trend is towards acceptance, a full 69 UN member states continue to criminalise consensual sex between people of the same gender, the report found.

That is one fewer than last year, after Gabon backtracked from a 2019 law - "the shortest-lived law of its kind in modern history," ILGA research coordinator and lead author of the report Lucas Ramon Mendos said in a statement.

More urgently than laws on the books, ILGA verified that 34 countries - more than half of those with criminalising laws - have actively enforced them in the past five years.

The report warned the real number could be "much higher".

"Wherever such provisions are in the books, people may get reported and arrested at any time even just under the suspicion of having sex with someone of the same gender," Mendos said.

"Courts actively prosecute and sentence them to jail, public flogging, or even death," he said.

In six UN member states, the death penalty is the legally prescribed punishment for consensual homosexual sex: Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as across 12 northern states of Nigeria.

And the report said sources indicated that the death penalty could potentially be used in such cases in five other countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates - although there was less legal certainty.

"OPPRESS, PERSECUTE, SCAPEGOAT"

Another 42 countries have erected legal barriers to freedom of expression and sexual orientation and gender identity issues, while 51 have legal barriers to setting up NGOs that work on LGBT issues.

ILGA's head of programmes Julia Ehrt voiced concern that some governments had taken advantage of the coronavirus crisis to step up efforts to "oppress, persecute, scapegoat and violently discriminate against us".

The organisation also voiced concern over the proliferation of so-called "LGBT-free zones" in places like Poland and Indonesia, and renewed support for "conversion therapies".

But even as anti-gay rights forces seem to gain ground in a number of places, ILGA said its latest report showed "how our global community has collectively achieved progress in every single legal category tracked".

It highlighted that Sudan in July repealed the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts, and hailed that Germany had become one of four UN member states which ban conversion therapies at the national level.

A number of jurisdictions within Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United States have also done so.

And it celebrated that Costa Rica had joined the growing number of countries that have introduced marriage equality, bringing the total to 28.

Another 34 countries provide for some partnership recognition for same-sex couples, it pointed out.

Tuesday's report also showed that as of this month, same-sex sexual acts are legal in 124 countries - 64 per cent of UN member states.

A full 81 countries meanwhile have laws offering protection against discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, ILGA said, pointing out that 20 years ago, only 15 did.

Despite the challenges, Ehrt said the report "contains hope for a better tomorrow (and) a future in which our communities will no longer have to fight to reclaim rights that should have never been taken away from us in the first place".

‘Breaking Fast’ Follows Gay Muslim Man Looking For Love During Ramadan
Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/breaking-fas...5b6f24ae35cef79



This post has been edited by internaldisputes: Dec 18 2020, 09:12 AM

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‘Gay is OK!’ is not okay for home ministry
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/...-home-ministry/



PETALING JAYA: The home ministry has banned two publications for “promoting” homosexuality and pornography.

In a statement today, home ministry secretary-general Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz said a book titled “Gay is OK! A Christian Perspective” was seen as trying to promote the homosexual culture in Malaysia – which he said went against the religious and cultural sensitivities of the country.

“The practice is clearly forbidden and is contrary to all religious teachings including Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism,” he said.

The book, which was published in 2013, focuses on subjects related to gender and sexuality as well as religion. The author, who is also a pastor, argues that several verses in the Bible have been wrongly employed and misused by Christians to condemn gays and lesbians.

Meanwhile, a book titled “Peichi” has been banned for containing pornographic and immoral content that is contrary to the cultural values and norms of Malaysian society.

He added that the books were banned because they contained content that might be detrimental to public order, morals and public interest.

The ban is in accordance with Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act, which prohibits the printing, production, reproduction, publication, importation, sale, distribution or ownership of the publications in Malaysia.

Anyone who commits an offence under the said section of the Act can be fined up to RM20,000, face a jail term of up to three years, or both.

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It's just a book...

🌎 Grindr reveals which countries have the most tops and the most bottoms
Source: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/12/21/grind...t-tops-bottoms/



Gays, get your passports ready for a post-pandemic trip – Grindr has revealed the countries with the highest numbers of tops and bottoms.

The global hook-up app is active in nearly every country in the world, but some regions have markedly different preferences than others.

Vietnam, Sweden Thailand, Peru and South Africa are home to the biggest proportion of users who list themselves as bottoms, according to the gay app’s 2020 Grindr Unwrapped roundup.

Meanwhile, Nigeria, where gay sex is illegal, is home to the one of the highest proportions of tops, behind only Morocco and India and ahead of Chile and Israel.

If you’re looking up for a man who is up for anything, South America is definitely your destination of choice, with men in Venezuela, Guatemala and Argentina most likely to list themselves as vers.

Grindr did add an important clarification: “This data only represents a subsection of our users (not all Grindr users include this information on their profiles), and Grindr itself only represents a subsection of the global queer community.

“So it’s important to note that this is not meant as a comprehensive or scientific report on global queer sex and dating behaviours.

“Instead, it’s meant as a fun and informal way to help our users get to know each other better, serve as an ice-breaker for conversations in the app, and provide some insights into Grindr activity trends from the year.”

In more robust data, the United States remains the biggest market for the app, followed by Brazil, Mexico, India and the United Kingdom, with Brits admirably cracking the top five despite the UK’s smaller population.

Meanwhile, the holy day is looking more like the holey day, with Grindr revealing Sunday evenings are the most active time for users.

Grindr also revealed the most-listed songs of 2020, and we are stunned to report that gays love listening to Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.

The pair’s collaboration “Rain on Me” topped the list, followed in short order by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s year-defining cultural phenomenon “WAP”. The jokes write themselves, really.

Grindr added: “It was a year unlike any other, and many of the usual ways people enjoy Grindr—in-person dates, hookups, tennis (yes, some of us use Grindr to find tennis partners)—were off the table in 2020 due to COVID-19.

“But that doesn’t mean people weren’t still connecting. This snapshot of activity shows that even in a year of quarantine and isolation, people still found ways to express themselves and connect safely from home.”