Dating Site For White People Says It Won’t Tolerate Racist Behavior
WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com Prohibits Gays, Allows Adulterers, Polygamists
A Utah company has launched a dating website specifically for white people, but same-sex connections are prohibited.
A billboard advertising WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com went up recently near Salt Lake City, sparking an uproar on social media.Â
“I am sure some of you are wondering about the concept and need for a dating website titled ‘Where White People Meet.Com,'” the site’s “About Us” section states. “Our answer to that would be why not? There are various dating websites that promote and cater to just about every origin, race, religion and lifestyle out there. So again, why not ‘Where White People Meet.Com’?
“The question naturally arises, can anyone join?” the “About Us” section continues. “That answer is yes, as long as you are at least 18 years of age and you agree to abide by the rules and regulations set forth for all members to follow.”
The company says it wants to help “connect like minded people in a non discriminatory fashion.”
A blog post on WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com, based in North Salt Lake, states that the site’s staff “won’t tolerate rude, aggressive or racist behavior.”
As of Saturday, the site had more than 300 members, most of whom had apparently joined in response to news reports over the last few days. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the site had only 35 members on Thursday. On Saturday, WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com wrote on Twitter that users were experiencing difficulty logging on due to heavy traffic overloading the site’s server.
The Tribune notes that although gay searches are prohibited on WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com, the site appears to allow users who are married, and lists no policy related to polyamory or polygamy. Utah is heavily Mormon, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints condemns homosexuality. The church renounced polygamy in 1890, but the practice continues in some Mormon subcultures. The church didn’t allow black members until 1978, and Utah is 91 percent white.Â
Although some expressed outrage about the idea of a whites-only dating site, particularly in Utah, the president of the NAACP’s Salt Lake chapter, Jeanetta Williams, told the Tribune she simply thinks the concept is “odd.”Â
“I just thought it was kind of strange they would put it in Utah,” she said. “A large population here is white. So you’re going to put up billboards here so you can meet other white singles? Every day you can meet white singles.”
“If it were some type of a hate group that was putting these billboards up, we would take a closer look at the actual target,” Williams added. “But here we’re seeing other advertisements for [dating services for] black singles, for LDS singles.”
The New York Daily News notes that WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com joins other dating sites that cater based on race, creed and religion, such as blackpeoplemeet.com, christianmingle.com and latinopeoplemeet.com.
However, some Salt Lake residents and Twitter users aren’t convinced.Â
“I just feel we should be past that whole mindset of staying within our own race and segregation pretty much,” Michelle Dessau told the local Fox affiliate, KSTU-TV.Â
“I have a lot of friends who are biracial couples and they’re in love and they’re happy,” Kayla Lemmon said. “I don’t think we should have a dating site with only one race. I think it excludes someone who could be your soul mate and is a different color than you.”
@meetwhitepeople $4 to meet fellow white supremacists seems a bit steep considering how easy trump has made it for you to be open about it
— bunnicula (@alexpow) December 31, 2015
Oh #Utah – you never cease #amazing and #disappointing me. #Wherewhitepeoplemeet. #bigotry https://t.co/lXqy6XfnQt
— A. A. Moore (@chaos_slc) December 31, 2015
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Video and screenshot via FOX 13
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