Grindr Executive Resigns After President's Same Sex Marriage Comments

The president of Grindr made waves last month after seemingly coming out against gay marriage.

Now, the head of communications for the popular app, Landen Zumwalt, has resigned.

Though Zumwalt didn’t explicitly cite Grindr president Scott Chen or his comments as the reason he stepped down, his statement posted to Medium on Friday left little question as to why he would no longer be with the company.

“As an out and proud gay man madly in love with a man I don’t deserve, I refused to compromise my own values or professional integrity to defend a statement that goes against everything I am and everything I believe," Zumwalt wrote. "While that resulted in my time at Grindr being cut short, I have absolutely no regrets. And neither should you."

INTO, the online publication owned by Grindr, was the first to break the story about Chen’s purported anti-gay marriage stance.

“There are people who believe that marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman,” the translation of Chen’s now-deleted Facebook post read. “I agree but that’s none of our business.”

Though the remainder of the post urged people not to donate to anti-LGBTQ charities, the damage was done, and the online backlash was immediate.

Zumwalt is the only known employee to depart the company over the incident so far. He ended his statement with words of encouragement for those who choose to stay at Grindr:

"For those who remain, those who will continue to fight for our community from within, know I will be cheering you on from the sidelines. Persist. Make your voices heard. And never compromise who you are for someone else.”