Grindr was a safe space for gay men. Its HIV status leak betrayed us | Brian Moylan

The app helped revolutionise the community's approach to HIV. Sharing that data undoes all its good work

Gay men have always needed safe spaces, somewhere they could congregate without fear of stigma and judgment or, even more essentially, persecution and violence. Over the past several decades, those spaces were more often than not gay bars and clubs, where gay men flocked to be themselves in a way that wasn't always possible in "polite society". The fact that there were also scores of men at those establishments looking for casual encounters wasn't just a bonus, it was often the entire point.

Related: Grindr shared information about users' HIV status with third parties