For those not aware, a Daily Beast author named Nico Hines recently wrote an article in which he created a fake Grindr profile to lure gay athletes to write about sex at the 2016 Olympics. For those not in the know, Grindr is a gay hookup app. The sad thing is, that was a piece of clickbait. The original title was "I Got Three Grindr Dates in an Hour in the Olympic Village."

Hines included the heights, weights, and countries of origin of many of the athletes he arranged "dates" with, which proves how blind he is to his own privilege as a Straight-White-Man living in America. He didn't think of the consensus that writing an article of this caliber could create.

If you think he did a favor for these athletes, you couldn’t be further from the truth. While it is one of many LGBTQ+’s peoples’ goals to have a world where everyone can be open with their sexuality without judgement, in the world we live in today, it is not safe for everyone to be open with their sexuality. The athletes he outed could be punished, even killed, when they return to their home countries.

In the past week, YouTuber Gigi Gorgeous was denied entry into Dubai because she is transgender.

The article was edited after being published to remove identification of athletes. However, the article stayed live on the Daily Beast’s website for 24 hours. The article was only removed after LGBT activist and columnist Dan Savage commented on the article.

A change.org petition is currently circulating to ask the International Olympic Committee to revoke Daily Beast's Press Pass for the Olympics. Here is the link if you want to sign the petition.

LGBTQ+ advocates like Athlete Ally Executive Director, Hudson Taylor, were enraged by the article.

"Nico Hines' article is as unethical as it is dangerous. There are over 200 athletes competing in the Olympics from countries for which being gay is punishable by death," He told NBC OUT. "His failure to comprehend the impact of outing closeted athletes is both unacceptable and offensive. For many closeted athletes the internet may be the one place where they are able to connect with LGBT culture and community safely," Taylor added.

YouTube Star and LGBTQ+ Advocate Tyler Oakley took to Twitter to share his opinion.

"shame on @NicoHines/@thedailybeast. LGBTQ+ people deserve respect. we are not your zoo animals. so infuriating. https://twitter.com/alexanderpayton/status/7637650... …"
"when LGBTQ+ people are protective of our safe places, understand WHY. we can be killed in our clubs. entrapment can happen on our apps."

Also, here is a link to one of my favorite YouTubers, Kinglsey's reaction video.

As of August 14th, 2016 Nico Hines has yet to release an apology. The article has since been deleted and replaced with an editors note:

"Today we did not uphold a deep set of The Daily Beast’s values," a statement on the site, in part, read. "These values—which include standing up to bullies and bigots, and specifically being a proudly, steadfastly supportive voice for LGBT people all over the world—are core to our commitment to journalism and to our commitment to serving our readers."
"We were wrong. We will all do better."

But there is no way to insure that the athletes' home countries did not see the article and realize that they were their countries' athletes. Many people want Hines to be charged with a crime if he is responsible for an athlete's execution.