[read our membership gudelines]

we just released a new version of freddie, and we need you to update the app before june 6, 2025. this release officially makes us a values-based, membership-driven community for sapphic, trans, and gender-diverse people. we center BIPOC experiences and prioritize safety, care, and respect. over the past several months, we've seen these values threatened by people who don't align with them. that prompted us to explore how to protect this space, ensuring it stays true to our mission. despite our best efforts to remind everyone who we're here for through our website, socials, and posts, some individuals without community awareness have entered this space. it's ironic that laws intended to protect marginalized people also protect those who don't belong in these spaces. here's what’s staying the same and what’s changing:

what’s staying the same:

• we are created for sapphic, trans, and gender-diverse people.

• we center BIPOC experiences.

• we are an intentional, small, and safer platform for finding community and connection.

• we don’t allow individuals convicted of, charged with, or currently under investigation for any sexual or violent offenses.

what’s changing:

• we’ve updated our onboarding process to a membership application. new users will answer a few questions about their identity, what they hope to get from freddie, and provide a link to a public profile for verification.

• every current user will complete a one-time onboarding where they’ll provide info about themselves, review our basic guidelines, and be reminded of the space’s intentions.

• we’ve temporarily turned off the ability to apply for membership and are redirecting people to a waitlist. we’re still fine-tuning this process, but we expect to reopen membership within 2 weeks.

• each new member application will be reviewed by our team. we welcome applicants from all backgrounds who align with our values, regardless of race, gender, or orientation. applicants must reflect our commitment to creating an intentional, respectful, and affirming space. we’ll take great care in maintaining a community that feels safe and true to its mission. this approach is necessary to ensure we comply with state and federal laws, including the Unruh Civil Rights Act in California, and ensure that we do not unintentionally discriminate against anyone based on protected characteristics.

all users must update the app and complete the one-time onboarding flow by june 6, 2025. accounts that do not complete this process by that date will be deleted, in accordance with our terms and conditions.

here’s the full tea:

we’ve been working on this for a while, and our thinking has evolved. initially, we considered becoming a private club to ensure that only our intended community—sapphic, trans, and gender-diverse people—had access. however, as we learned more about the legal implications, we realized that being a club could limit our ability to host public events. if we were a club, we’d have to restrict events to members only, which contradicted our goal of being inclusive. also, our app size is currently 8.1k users, and in some states, that’s already too large for a private club, which could invite unnecessary scrutiny. lastly, being a private club would hinder our ability to generate revenue.

as i’ve mentioned before, we are self-funded, meaning i personally cover all app-related costs (staff, operations, etc.). we’ve been considering how to make freddie self-sustaining, which will involve community donations, ticketed events, merchandise, and other revenue models. these efforts would be difficult to implement if we were a private club. so, we pivoted and decided to become a membership-based space grounded in values. we are legally open to anyone who wants to join (this is required by state and local laws), but we will only accept those who align with our values and want to build a meaningful community with us.

through this journey, we’ve learned just how challenging it is to create and maintain spaces focused solely on marginalized communities. we need these spaces most, yet the legal complexities are significant. these changes are just one step in our ongoing evolution, and we’re excited to hear your feedback. in order to keep freddie thriving, we must align our policies with state and federal law. but rest assured, we remain dedicated to serving the sapphic, trans, and gender-diverse community.

thank you for reading. see you on freddie!

carmen hernandez (founder)