Gaydar (website)

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This page is about the internet website, for the term as a generic intuition, see Gaydar

Gaydar is a worldwide, profile-based dating website for gay and bisexual men, women, and couples who are at least 18 years old. Although many of the individual profiles are publicly accessible on the Internet, to gain more functionality and interact with other users, a registration is required and a guest profile must be created.

It was founded in 1999 by South Africans Gary Frisch and his partner Henry Badenhorst, after a friend complained that he was too busy to look for a new boyfriend.[1][2] It was launched in November 1999.

Gaydar and similar sites are widely regarded as having had a major impact on gay communities in many parts of the world. Gaydar allows users to display and receive more detailed and intimate information in many personal areas than is possible in live venues. Some people speculate that Gaydar may have played a part in shifting the emphasis from cruising grounds—both outdoors and in sex-on-premises venues—to the net^{[citation needed]}. Gaydar is popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and to a lesser extent in North America, continental Europe and South Africa.

In May 2007 Henry Badenhorst was named by the Independent on Sunday Pink List the fourth most influential gay person in Britain down from the 3rd place the previous year. [3]

1 Registration
2 Profiles
3 Controversy
4 Criticisms
5 Death of co-founder
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Registration

Registered users are able to browse through online lists of other users who are logged into the site at that time. They are able to send messages to each other and to participate in chat rooms, which, except for the Australian chat rooms, tend to be dominated by UK users. Users can upgrade from 'guest' to 'member' status by paying a subscription that allows access to all the site's functionality. Members may add more photos into an 'album' attached to their profile that are viewable by other members. Guests face other site restrictions, such as a daily limit of about 10 messages that they can send and 25 profiles that they can view, and a limit on number of chat rooms accessible at the same time. Guests cannot view archives of sent messages, and cannot use the friends list and some enhanced search options. About a third of users are members. Due to a requirement that users create a profile, alternative sites offering services such as anonymous chat rooms have since sprung up, such as gay-chat.co.uk [4] in Britain and irish-gay.com [5] in Ireland.

[edit] Profiles

Profiles typically include standard information on age, location, physical features, sexual predilections, hobbies, and pastimes; profiles usually include a free description about their owner and what he or she seeks in a prospective partner. There is provision for profile owners to upload a number of photographs, typically of themselves—one as the 'main photo', several as 'secondary photos', and several more as 'private photos' that can be sent as attachments to private messages. Some of these photos are sexually explicit but only paying members may view these; images that are not sexually explicit may be viewed by both members and guests. All uploaded images are first screened by a staff member at gaydar for legality.

[edit] Controversy

Media attention was drawn in 2003 when the website was used by Labour Party MP Chris Bryant, and in 2006, when married Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Mark Oaten used it to find gay sexual partners.[6]

In February 2007 a newspaper revealed that a high rank officer of the Greek military had a profile on Gaydar. He was prosecuted, and an MP brought the matter in the parliament, accusing the minister of defence of allowing "inappropriate promotions" in the armed forces. Greek LGBT community protested, but the officer claimed the profile was not his.

[edit] Criticisms

A July 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study described sites including Gaydar as contributing to Sexually transmitted infection (STD) clusters^{[citation needed]}. Other critics allege that it facilitates barebacking (anal intercourse without a condom)[7].

[edit] Death of co-founder

The chairman and co-founder of Gaydar, Gary Frisch died unexpectedly at his home in London on 11 February 2007 aged 38 years. A verdict of misadventure was recorded by Dr Paul Knapman, the coroner at the inquest. A pathologist, Dr Peter Wilkins, said raised levels of ketamine were found in Mr Frisch's blood and liver. [8]