Desk Editor & Tarushi Singh, Keekli Intern
The digital world is full of dating and match-making Apps, but the recently held Maya Bazaar in Shimla introduced us to one such App – As You Are; India’s first dating App for the LGBTQIA+ Community. In conversation with Sunali Aggarwal the Co-Founder of ‘As You Are’ App and Deepti, the content’s lead partner, we find out whys and hows of starting this innovative idea.
The tag line run, ‘Where you can hangout with queer folks, discuss your hobbies or find someone special. A safe space to just chat, debate, discover, and be yourself!’ As Sonali shares, she created this App based on firsthand experiences of queer friends, who found it very difficult to find love while being closeted. The community as such is conditioned to hide their sexuality, which makes it rather difficult to be in a relationship or even find a partner to date. And now since Section 377 has been abolished, it has legally created avenues for entrepreneurs like us and thus the idea of this specific dating App was born. This App will help the community, not just from a relationship standpoint but from a perspective of living a life as they want to and how they want, without any judgements.
Deepti added, “The community has a mix of individuals, some are closeted and some are out, to cater to the needs of the larger community a virtual platform would be a great and safe method for interaction, which was the idea behind creating this App, ‘As You Are’, the name says it all. The App is made for social networking and dating, specifically for the LGBTQIA+ community, this safe space allows people with parallel interests to interact with each other and participate in events, discussions, debates, etc., hosted by the company, consequently, they become more familiar with the interface and other feature.”
An App like this might leave individuals wondering about personal security or it being misused by miscreants, the team explained that the profiles that are created are verified through face identification verification, gender and location, to ensure that the subscriber is genuine and verified. Since inception they have had more than 60,000+ app downloads and 32,000 active users, thus security is one of the main priorities of their App. The App follows a ‘no pressure’ policy. The users do not require a linkage with another social media platform aka Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc., which makes their personal interests and information more accessible. The App is unique and admirable in another aspect, it wants the users to focus more on the personality rather than the looks of the person, this is because the people of the community look for a safe and healthy space, and while making friends or looking for love interests another individual’s physical appearance cannot be the only criteria for determining the person personality, thus, it brings about various events which let the individuals have a more transparent and honest exchange.
On an end note, more than an App, As You Are focuses on making it a happy space for the community as a collective where people can express themselves unapologetically and feel free. The Team encourages users to join the App and primarily have fun, they would also love to hear feedback from the users so that the foundation of the App can become stronger, safer and more efficient.
