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TikTok creator Josselyn Morris and her livestreamed speed dating show.
“It can be chaotic, funny, and unpredictable, but it’s also full of warmth, connection, and real vulnerability!”
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While people everywhere are becoming disillusioned with dating apps and are desperately seeking new ways to find love and connection, one TikToker is forging a new path for her LGBTQ+ Gen Z peers.
What started as the dream of a queer woman with only $600 left to her name has turned into a viral sensation and created a community for queer people to find love in the messiest way possible.
Josselyn Morris, a 26-year-old rising star on TikTok, started the app’s first-ever livestream LGBTQ+ speed dating show that has now grown to have more than 370,000 followers and gets a minimum of 50,000 viewers per night. She streams four nights a week to help queer singles find love on her TikTok live show. Some singles have applied to be on the show, and others are picked from the live audience so that Morris can help them find a match.
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“I started this show with $600, a ring light, and a dream. And now there are people saying they found the love of their life in my comments section? That’s unreal,” Morris tells PRIDE.
The premise is as simple and effective as it is wildly entertaining: Morris holds up a sign that says “LGBTQ+ Speed Dating” and has a split screen with the curious single she invited on the show, and tries to connect them with people in the chat who feel a spark with the guest.
“The space I’ve built became what I needed when I was most alone—and now it’s that for thousands of other people too,” she says. “People come back every week. They root for each other. They stay. That means more than views ever could.”
@josselynmorris HOW DID I DO YA’LL BE HONEST 😫👀💍👀 CONGRATS TO THE HAPPY COUPLE @ROSE 🌹 @🏳️🌈BBBOŚŠŞȘWWWÖMBMÅŅ👄👅 #wedding #marriage #marriagehumor #lgbtq #lgbtqia #🏳️🌈 #married #josselynmorris
Sometimes Morris helps people find a match and other times the people in the chat investigate the guest and figure out they’re actually in a relationship already or are lying about themselves. Combine that with Morris’ hilarious facial expressions, and sharp sense of humor and you’re in for an entertaining night even if no one finds love. Think speed dating mixed with internet sleuthing, and reality TV shows like Catfish and Maury.
Yes, it’s messy and full of gay chaos, but it’s also sweet and hopeful as young LGBTQ+ find love and build community on an app that can often make people feel even more isolated and pressured to be performative.
“It can be chaotic, funny, and unpredictable, but it’s also full of warmth, connection, and real vulnerability,” Morris explains. “Every night is different. One moment someone’s cracking jokes, the next someone’s talking about what it’s like to date while not being fully out. That kind of shift feels natural because the space allows for all of it.”
Originally from Yuma, Arizona, Morris knows what it’s like to be Black and queer in a small town with no community. A self-proclaimed stud, she started her TikTok channel with one main goal: to create an LGBTQ+ dating show made by and for the community.
And she’s found success doing just that. She’s created a community of devoted followers, who call themselves “Team White Braids,” has helped create 100 real queer relationships, was once even invited to a proposal between two contestants on her show, and heard that one couple she set up has a baby on the way.
“It’s become this tight-knit, almost sacred digital living room. We’re live almost every night, and the energy is always the same: safe, chaotic in the best way, and full of love,” Morris says. “You don’t need a label, a storyline, or a “look” to belong here. People who aren’t even out yet–people from towns where there’s no gay scene–come here and feel seen.”
Her live queer dating show proves that love is messy and radical joy is not only possible, but is at your fingertips four nights a week.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
