LONDON — Jack’d, the fastest growing gay app in the world among young adult gay men, today released the findings of a community survey conducted amongst its users in the United Kingdom. With same-sex marriage to be legalized March 29 in England and Wales, Jack’d surveyed its community–80 percent of which are 18-30 years old–on their impressions of marriage and love in modern times.
Users in the UK were polled using an in-app survey, which revealed that younger gay men tend to be more optimistic about getting married at some point in their life, compared to older gay men. Of those polled, 62 percent of gay men aged 18 to 25 stated they would be open to getting married to another man, whilst only 45 percent of those 26 years and above saw marriage in their future.
The survey also revealed that gay men in the UK tend to have an open attitude when it comes to mobile dating. 68 percent of all respondents cited that they would consider marrying a guy they met on Jack’d.
Adam Segel, Jack’d chief executive officer commented on the findings: “We are happy to see that Jack’d is a place where men feel like they can make connections with similar guys. The fact that a majority of Jack’d users in the UK indicated they would be open to marrying a guy they met via the Jack’d app shows that mobile dating has become a steadfast phenomenon among young, gay adults, and that they are not shy about admitting using our app to find their soul mates.”
Further findings of the survey highlighted that younger gay men in the UK were not interested in getting married in a church, which came in fourth at 12 percent of votes in a list of possible venues for wedding ceremonies. The most popular location was the beach (25 percent), followed by in a garden (17 percent) and for the practical, at city hall (16 percent).
Survey respondents also felt they ideally wanted to get married in their 30’s with over 60 percent of respondents voting this as the ideal age for marriage. Only 3 percent of users felt they would like to be married before 20.
The survey showed that gay men want to focus their wedding funds on the celebration itself with 67 percent saying they would rather splurge on the ceremony and reception over rings (20 percent) or designer outfits (13 percent).
The survey also gave users a chance to air their voices around marriage in an open ended format. Below are some of the comments:
- “Equality in marriage rights are very important and are a huge step in gaining quality across the board for the gay populations.”
- “Gay marriage is great. Everyone should have the right and dignity to be with a person who they love as long as they consent. The law should have no business regulating how two adults choose to celebrate and show their commitment to each other.”
- “At the moment gay marriage seems to be a novelty, it’s trendy at the moment and people are not taking it seriously, they are getting married because they can, what happened to marrying for love, it’s all a flamboyant show.”
- “Marriage is marriage. It’s about two people who love each other promising to live and be faithful and loyal to each other for the rest of their lives. It’s about wanting that person in your life everyday, in your bed every night and in your heart forever.”
