Preface: The Trump Administration does not want this app to exist

Not-so-fun fact. On March 21st, 2025 the Trump Administration terminated our very large National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant that we we were awarded by the the Biden Administration to further develop, optimize, promote, and evaluate Sapphic Savvy. The reason they gave was that the app was "DEI" and no longer aligned with agency priorities. We were unfortunately not alone, under this same "DEI" guise the Trump Administration proceeded to cancel basically all federal funding for projects aiming to promote health among LGBTQ and racial/ethnic minority populations. This is extremely not good as the reason these projects were funded in the first place was because they focused on improving quality of life for health disparity populations— the subgroups of Americans for most vulnerable in terms of health and psychological well-being! And it gets worse—- the Trump Admin simultaneously also took down a bunch of NIH and CDC websites that provided health information and resources for sexual and gender minority people!

As I'm sure its been for many of you, it's been a tough 2025 over here. At the point our funding was terminated, the new app was about 75% complete and we were oh so excited to share the finished product with you all. Beyond our current features, we had planned on launching with a more sophisticated community forum section that went beyond the chat rooms as well as a user-focused Truths and 1 Lie type mini game where bonus points could be earned any time during the week. Prior to termination, all of the app's competition features were done though and we had already paid for some social media and dating app advertisements to promote the app this summer. The growing feel of hate in the air towards minorities together with the lack of health information and resources available to queer women online these days convinced us that we should launch the not-quite-finished app anyway. Fortunately, the University where some of us work (shoutout to Loyola Marymount University!) gave us some funding to cover the first 6 months of prizes and data services used by the app. So, hoping to provide something mood boosting and identity affirming, we decided to launch despite the terminated grant and are hopeful that you all will share the app with friends since our funding for ad campaigns is now super limited. Def help us get the word out in queer spaces if you can!

Right now we are hoping to get our grant funding reinstated eventually through federal appeals and lawsuits. One federal judge in June already ruled the terminations of grants like ours illegal and discriminatory— a very good sign. While we wait on that stuff we are also seeking funding from other sources and to continue the competition past January and finally integrate the additional app features we had planned. Fingers crossed— we will keep you posted on how all that goes!

It's great to see all of the familiar faces that took part in the competition back in 2019!