Grindr celebrates Pride with cross-country 'Grindr Rides America' bus tour
Mashable celebrates Pride all year long and honors Pride Month in June by exploring and championing the modern LGBTQ world in all its glorious queerness — including the leaders, conversations, and spaces, both online and off, making up a community that embraces and continues to fight for the freedom to thrive as our most authentic selves.
Calling all passenger princesses, princes, and everyone in between — Grindr is turning 15 and hitting the open road with a cross-country "Grindr Rides America" bus tour. It's the great all-American-gay road trip, and everyone's invited to hop on and join in the celebration of Pride.
The Grindr bus will be cruising through 10 cities across the U.S., kicking off in San Francisco on May 29 and wrapping up in New York City on June 30. Passengers can expect two full-service mobile photo studios for that perfect profile pic, local drag queens, free swag (including punny bumper stickers like "Hoexist" and "My Ass Is An Honor Student"), and Grindr Unlimited giveaways.
The team from medical service Q Care Plus will also be on board to talk to attendees about HIV and STI prevention, screening, treatment, and how to access HIV preventative PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and STI preventative doxy-PEP to encourage open discussion and judgment-free support.
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According to the press release, Grindr Rides America is an opportunity to get closer to the community than ever before with an "Unwrapped 2.0" initiative. At each stop, Grindr will unveil data snapshots that reveal unique insights into the LGBTQ communities in each city. Meanwhile, UK-based users are suing Grindr for sharing personal data with third parties, including HIV status, so it's yet to be seen how these data snapshots will be received.
While Grindr is known as the go-to app for gay hookups (we're all about consensual fun), this bus tour is meant to showcase a different side of the app — one focused on community building, unity, and celebrating LGBTQ pride. It's apparently a chance to connect, have fun, and show the world what Grindr is really about.
Tabitha Britt is an award-winning freelance journalist, editor, and SEO/AEO strategist. Aside from reviewing dating apps and sex toys for Mashable, Tabitha is also the founding editor-in-chief of DO YOU ENDO — a digital magazine by individuals with endometriosis, for individuals with endometriosis. She has a Master's degree in Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism from The New School for Social Research and is a grad of Sextech School. You can find more of her work in various online publications, including National Geographic, Glamour, Better Homes & Gardens, and Everyday Health.
