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Dating website recognises
transgenders
One of New Zealand’s busiest dating websites has taken steps to recognise its
trangendered users.
“We have taken onboard feedback from members of the transgender/transsexual
community and have added the option in male and female profiles to optionally
specify if the member is transsexual or transgendered,” the NZDating website
said in an email sent to its members this morning.
“Only members seriously considering a gender change or lifestyle are
permitted to use this option and misuse will be taken seriously,” warns the
email.
The site has also updated its ‘sexuality’ classifications. “The current
system where you can only select the gender of the people you are seeking has
been limiting, and we have introduced an optional setting to specify your
sexuality. There are options for Straight, Gay, Bisexual and Undisclosed,”
continues the email.
Here at GayNZ.com, our dating section has always included sexuality options
including Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Bi-curious, Transgender, Transexual and
Straight. There’s even a ‘Mannerism’ option, where you can chose from many
options including ‘A bit butch’, ‘Very feminine’, ‘Normal male dude’ and
‘lipstick lesbian’.
According to the HIV support group Body Positive, 45% of gay men now use the
internet to initiate contact for casual sex.
The NZDating website has been criticised for not including safe sex
advertising on the site, as local HIV rates continue to rise. New Zealand
AIDS Foundation researchers say that the increasing use of the internet has
also meant fewer men go to gay bars and cruise clubs to meet, making it more
difficult to spread health promotion messages.
There have been changes in the way gay men meet each other with the advent of
the internet,” says an NZAF spokesperson. “What that does for infectious
disease is increase the sexual network and the more interactions in the
network the more the disease can spread about.”
Ref: GayNZ.com (m)
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