A Catholic priest in Wisconsin has filed a lawsuit against the popular gay dating app Grindr on grounds that it allegedly sold his “sensitive” personal information to commercial vendors that enabled a conservative Catholic publication to obtain the information and publish an article in July 2021 disclosing that the priest patronized gay bars and was “only a step away from sexual predation.”
The lawsuit, filed by attorneys for Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, says the article published by the publication The Pillar resulted in Burrill being forced to resign from his job as General Secretary for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and caused him to suffer “severe emotional and mental distress,” and loss of earnings and future earning capacity among other damages.
According to the lawsuit, between 2017 and 2021, an organization called Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, described as a private foundation, “purchased Burrill’s Grindr personal data and forwarded his information to the publication known as The Pillar.”
It states that in July 2021, “armed with the Grindr data that CLCR purchased, The Pillar published an article in which Burrill was ‘outed,’ and smeared with false and lurid claims, including a strong suggestion that Burrill, by using Grindr, was ‘only a step away from sexual predation,’ and falsely suggesting Burrill might have been involved with minors.”
The lawsuit adds, “The news article was picked up and reported around the globe.” It further states, “Consequently, Burrill’s reputation has been destroyed. He was forced out of his position as the General Secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and has been subjected to significant financial damages and emotional and psychological devastation.”
Court records show that the lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court for the State of California in Los Angeles County on July 18 because Grindr’s corporate headquarters is in that county in West Hollywood. The online court records do not show that Grindr has filed an official response to the lawsuit.
But the Washington Post reports that Grindr said in a statement that the company “intends to respond vigorously to these allegations, which are based on mischaracterizations of practices relating to user data.”
In its 14-page complaint, the lawsuit states that Burrill would never have signed on as a Grindr user if he had known that his personal information could be released.
“At the time that Burrill commenced using Grindr’s services, and throughout, Grindr deceived Burrill by concealing from him that his personal information and data could be sold and, in fact, was sold, and that Grindr received revenue, and hoped to achieve profit margins, as a result of the sale of user personal information,” the complaint states. “Grindr concealed from Burrill and others that their private and personal information would be made commercially available,” it says.
The Washington Post reports that one of Burrill’s attorneys said the decision by Burrill to file the lawsuit was made after Grindr refused a request by Burrill’s attorney that Grindr compensate Burrill for the damages he suffered with a payment of $5 million.
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
