He knows that and is alluded to the fact that the article mentions the gay bar to taint his character and create a narrative that he is lurking on the down low.

Many people go to gay bars not to hook up, but to be around other gay people. Gay bars are not a hookup app.

Why are there gay bars but not gay restaurants or gay coffee shops?

one of my favorite places to hang out was a gay coffee shop that was next to a gay bookstore, thank you very much!

There are. Bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and more all offer community to LGBT people , as they do many other minorities (and special interest groups, for that matter).

Straight people tend to get offended when a gay person hits on them, and drunk offended people can sometimes get violent. On the flip side of the coin, heteronormative bars present an added challenge for gay people looking for a hookup as they can't always tell who will be receptive. There was a need and the market filled it.

And for the record, straight people are allowed in too, it's not like they scan you with a gaydar at the door. You just have to be ok with people hitting on you who you're probably not interested in. So it's like being a woman in a normal bar.

I’ve used it simply to make friends. It’s not always about sex

The whole situation is terrible.

A. Using extensive app logs to stalk & doxx someone is shitty. Alas this is the world we have built. Way back in 2003 this country still had some leftovers of a moral backbone and could pass CAN-SPAM act. These days anything goes.

B. This guy was using a hookup app 'almost daily', and following up with visits to hookup bars and private residences. His activities strongly corroborate that he was a sex addict. Which is in direct contradiction with his Catholic priesthood vows of chastity and celibacy.

C. Hookup apps like Grindr do not validate the user's age. They are a de-facto funnel feeding under age kids into the hookup sex scene. 'In an NWU study of of 14 to 17 year old males who identify as gay or bisexual [...] more than a quarter of the study’s adolescent participants said they had had sex with a partner met through an app.' The next stage of the funnel is prostitution and trafficking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003

https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pillar-investigates-usccb-g...

I do not disagree with you one bit, and appreciate the thoughtful response. Though tinder and other dating apps do not have age verification either. We probably need photo id verifications

I met one of my best friends on Grindr. But there’s no denying it’s primarily about hookups.