A Wisconsin priest who was outed and lost his job for using Grindr is suing the queer dating app, alleging his data was sold without his knowledge or consent.
Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, who was the top administrator of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) until his resignation in 2021, claims Grindr failed to inform him that his data was being sold to vendors — thereby allowing people outside the app to know he was on it.
The release of his data caused “significant damage” to his reputation, Burrill said in a lawsuit obtained by the Washington Post — especially given the vow of celibacy he’d taken as a priest and also the Catholic Church’s long-held stance against homosexual sex.
Burrill was forced out of his position with the church after the Christian news website “The Pillar” ran a story exposing him for visiting gay bars and using the dating app — reporting it had tracked down and verified his behavior using online data.
The ex-priest alleged in his lawsuit that The Pillar received that data from Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal (CLCR), a Christian non-profit that bought data from queer dating apps to track down Church leaders using them against their vows — implying that Grindr had sold it to the organization.
“We want answers so we can use that as a warning to other Grindr users,” said Gregory Helmer, an attorney for Burrill.
Burrill said he’d never have joined the app had he known his data would be available to the public, according to the lawsuit.
“To have that decision forced out of your hands and into the public realm is reprehensible,” James Carr, another attorney representing Burrill, told the Washington Post.
Burrill — who Helmer said is still “getting on his feet” following the “shame and embarrassment” of his outing — asked Grindr for $5 million in damages in June.
The company declined his request, and he sued on July 18 for damages and the adoption of policies preventing user data from being made publicly available without users’ knowledge.
Grindr told the Washington Post it will “respond vigorously to these allegations, which are based on mischaracterizations of practices relating to user data,” and previously denied that it made user data publicly available.
CLCR acknowledged that it had obtained data from Grindr in the past for the purpose of exposing clergy members, but claimed it did not give any data to The Pillar.
Burrill’s ousting sparked widespread criticism at the time, with many calling The Pillars’ use of data dangerously homophobic.
