Grindr for Equality Presents: Out in the Open – Connecting the LGBTQ+ Community to the Conversations that Matter

One in five LGBTQ+ people in the UK have lost someone to a drug-related death. Let that sit for a second.

Chemsex, or using drugs to facilitate or enhance sex, is part of our community's reality. Nearly a third of LGBTQ+ people have had sex while using drugs in the past year, and almost two-thirds say the issue is still heavily stigmatized. Meanwhile, most people outside the community have never even heard the term. There's a gap between what we're living and what we're willing to say out loud, and that gap is where shame grows.

That’s why we’re honored to announce Out in the Open, a new initiative from Grindr for Equality that gets into the conversations our community is already having—just not publicly enough. The first installment is made in partnership with You Are Loved, a UK-based peer-support non-profit doing critical work in LGBTQ+ suicide and drug misuse prevention.

What Out in the Open with You Are Loved is about

Out in the Open with You Are Loved isn't a PSA or a scare campaign. It brings together people with real experience and real expertise to speak honestly about the forces driving chemsex: loneliness, pressure to perform, cultural norms around sex and openness, and the need for connection that gets tangled up with substances when safe spaces are scarce.

The voices include Gareth Thomas, former Wales rugby captain and LGBTQ+ campaigner, who's blunt about the cost of silence, that when people feel ashamed to speak up, the cycle of harm continues. 

Paris Lees, author, broadcaster, and BAFTA nominee, reflects on shame, addiction, and recovery, challenging us to look at the psychology underneath risk-taking. 

Kaiden Ford, poet and performance artist, speaks from London's queer underground about how substance use maps onto identity, especially for trans and non-binary people seeking belonging.

They're joined by frontline voices from Switchboard, the LGBTQIA+ helpline with over 50 years of experience, Voda, a wellbeing app serving 50,000+ LGBTQ+ users, and Marc Svensson, founder of You Are Loved, who draws on his own lived experience in suicide prevention.

Why now?

Research conducted with Censuswide and through an in-app survey of 2,400 UK Grindr users makes the need clear. The biggest drivers of chemsex aren't hedonism or recklessness; they are cultural norms around sex and openness (29%), loneliness and lack of safe spaces (27%), and pressure within the gay community (27%). This is as much an isolation problem as it is a drug problem, one where loneliness and the search for connection often drive the substance use.

And 40% of LGBTQ+ respondents want better access to addiction treatment, recovery services, and more inclusive mental health care. People aren't asking to be saved. They're asking for support that actually understands them.

What Grindr is doing about it

We've updated resources in the Grindr app to connect UK users directly to You Are Loved and Switchboard, available through the Safety & Privacy Centre. The full series is available on Grindr Presents, plus YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music, for the community and wider audience to engage with and help break the silence around chemsex, one conversation at a time. https://www.grindr.com/grindr-presents

This isn't about telling anyone how to live. It's about making sure that when someone's ready to talk, the conversation is already there.

If you're in the UK and want support, reach out to You Are Loved or contact Switchboard at 0800 0119 100.

This content is provided by Grindr for general educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as, and should not be understood as, medical, legal, or professional advice. Grindr is not a healthcare provider and does not provide medical recommendations. Treatment and healthcare decisions should be made in consultation with qualified healthcare providers based on individual circumstances. Medical guidelines and research findings referenced in this content are subject to change as new evidence emerges.