Check out Hinge’s latest 2025 Gen Z D.A.T.E. Report
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY GETTY IMAGES/CANVA
Only a quarter of Gen Z LGBTQIA+ daters feel like they are asked enough questions on a first date, according to Hinge’s latest 2025 Gen Z D.A.T.E. Report.
84% of Gen Z daters on the whole want to find new ways to build deeper connections with the people they’re dating. It’s no secret that post-COVID it can be hard to find real connections in the dating scene. NATO (not attached to outcome) dating has become more common, and we’re hearing words like “exclusive situationship” thrown about more than ever.
It’s clear from Hinge’s report that LGBTQIA+ Gen Z daters want more from their relationships, but they can be scared to ask for it. 35% of Hinge daters want to engage in deeper conversations but they don’t know how to start.
Only 18% of non-binary Gen Z daters said that they receive meaningful messages regularly. 73% of queer daters even said that they worry about asking deep questions early on in a relationship due to fears about being intense.
Moe Ari Brown, Love & Connection Expert at Hinge, commented on this finding: “That’s just one reason why vulnerability while dating at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities can be more nuanced. Many queer daters, including myself, have consistently been told that we’d have to forego some part of our authenticity to be accepted.”
“Some queer daters might find themselves trying to balance the desire for openness with a fear of losing connection by opening up especially when the fear is rooted in negative and isolating lived experiences.”
From Hinge’s report, it is clear that for all daters social media has made them hesitant to be emotionally open. We’re constantly being bombarded with TikToks and Reddit threads about what you should and shouldn’t do on first dates. For queer daters, who might already be lacking access to healthy representations of LGBTQIA+ love, this messaging from social media can be damaging.
Jade Bowler, also known as UnJaded Jade online, spoke to Hinge about the impact of social media on Gen Z dating: “Social media has also left me worrying I wasn’t ‘gay enough’. If I wasn’t sporting a carabiner to signal my queerness, would any girl fancy me? I ended up wearing markers of queerness that didn’t match my style, just to fit an online idea of what gay should look like.”
Find out more about Hinge’s latest report here.
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