A new dating app has been launched in the UK. It is being promoted as a service that excludes transgender women by using AI technology to determine users gender.
Critics of the app say it’s discriminatory as the AI technology often misgenders women, especially people of colour.
The proposed app is similar to one at the centre of a discrimination case currently before the courts in Australia.
Women’s rights campaigner Jenny Watson is behind a new online space ‘L C‘ which stands for Lesbian Community. They run social media spaces for lesbians that bar transgender women from participating, and have plans for a physical venue in London and the online app.
Watson announced her plan for L’App in an interview with Britain’s Daily Mail.
“There is no female-only dating apps at the moment. Lesbians need an app which they can use without being messaged by trans-identifying males.” Watson told the newspaper.
The activist used to run a regular speed dating session for women, but it was forced to shut down when the venue it was held at objected to their policy of excluding transgender women.
Watson says this led her to launch her new organisation with plans to have its own venue. She’s also shared that she decided to create the app because she kept getting banned from other providers when she wrote blurbs expressing that she did not want to have contact with people who are transgender.
In recent weeks the activist has also spoken out about plans for a lesbian only march during London’s Pride celebrations arguing that the current march has become hyper-sexualised and had too much of a focus on people who are transgender.
Appearing on conservative news broadcaster GB News the 32-year-old said lesbians were no longer comfortable with the parade held by Pride in London on 29th June.
‘We’re not attacking anyone.” Watson claimed during the broadcast.
“It’s not an attack, it’s just that we want our own event, and they run their own events as well – so why can’t we have our own.”
Despite the claims that lesbian women want spaces that exclude people who are transgender, a YouGov poll from 2023 shows that 84% of cisgender bisexual and lesbian women have a very positive or fairly positive view of transgender people.
Australian based app Giggle for Girls awaits court decision on discrimination case
In April an Australian court heard a discrimination case involving an app that was previously available in Australia which used automated technology to determine user’s sex.
Roxy Tickle, a woman who is transgender, has taken the app’s owners to court after she was accepted, and then removed from the platform. The case is known as Tickle v Giggle.
The federal court heard the case, and a decision is expected later this year.
Do you need some support?
If you are struggling with anxiety or depression, support and counselling are available from:
QLife: 1800 184 527 / qlife.org.au (Webchat 3pm – midnight)
QLife are a counselling and referral service for LGBTQIA+ people.
DISCHARGED: info@discharged.asn.au / discharged.asn.au
Discharged is a trans-led support service with peer support groups for trans and gender diverse folks.
Lifeline: 13 11 14 / lifeline.org.au
Beyondblue: 1300 22 4636 / www.beyondblue.org.au
