Grindr Unveils Best of 2012 Awards, Revealing the Year's Most Influential Gay Icons and Trendsetters

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Grindr, the premier all-male geo-social network app, is taking a look back at what made 2012 a year for the record books with the Best of 2012 Awards. With more than 4.5 million users in 192 countries across the globe, Grindr guys everywhere sounded off on everything from their favorite television show to the biggest gay icon of the year. In addition to the national awards, Grindr surveyed users in ten cities to find out the best local hotspots and trendsetters, including the best bar, best DJ and most influential local GLBT advocate.

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"Grindr guys are always at the forefront of what's trending and impacting gay culture," said Joel Simkhai, Founder and CEO of Grindr. "With their fingers on the pulse on what's important and impressing them the most, our guys are watching 'Modern Family,' getting their gossip from TMZ and rocking out to 'Call Me Maybe.' In addition, they've chosen some significant gay icons from 2012, including Anderson Cooper and Orlando Cruz for his famous and inspirational coming-out story."

The winners of Grindr's Best of 2012 Awards are:

• Gay icon of the year: Anderson Cooper
• Straight ally of the year: Barack Obama
• Best TV show: "Modern Family"
• Best TV host: Ellen DeGeneres
• Best source for gossip: TMZ
• TIE for best comedian: Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho
• Best athlete: Orlando Cruz
• Movie of the year: "Magic Mike"
• Song of the year: "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen
• Gadget of the year: iPhone 5

Grindr users were surveyed both nationally and locally between December 5 and December 22, 2012 to recommend winners for Grindr's Best of 2012 Awards. Grindr surveyed users in some of the top cities across the U.S. to get input on the best place to take a first date, where users go to get their haircut and which media outlets they read to get the latest information on issues affecting the GLBT community. The best of San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; New York; Denver; Boston; Chicago; Los Angeles; Houston; St. Louis; and Dallas are below:

Gym with the hottest guys:

• Fitness SF (San Francisco)
• Vida Fitness (Washington, D.C.)
• David Barton Gym, Chelsea (New York)
• 24 Hour Fitness (Denver)
• Boston Sports Club (Boston)
• FFC Fitness (Chicago)
• Equinox (Los Angeles)
• 24 Hour Fitness (Houston)
• Club Fitness (St. Louis)
• 24 Hour Fitness (Dallas)

Best place to get a haircut:

• Salon Baobao (San Francisco)
• Bang Salon (Washington, D.C.)
• Astor Place Barber Shop (New York)
• Floyd's 99 Barber Shop (Denver)
• Barbershop Deluxe (Boston)
• Chicago Male (Chicago)
• Shorty's Barber Shop (Los Angeles)
• Sports Clips (Houston)
• Paul Mitchell Salon (St. Louis)
• Supercuts on Lemmon (Dallas)

Best place to take a first date:

• Castro (San Francisco)
• Lauriol Plaza (Washington, D.C.)
• Central Park (New York)
• TIE: Red Rocks and Linger (Denver)
• Club Cafe (Boston)
• Wood (Chicago)
• The Grove (Los Angeles)
• Boheme Café and Wine Bar (Houston)
• Forest Park (St. Louis)
• West Village (Dallas)

Best Sunday funday:

• Jock Sundays at the Lookout (San Francisco)
• Drag Brunch at Nellie's Sports Bar (Washington, D.C.)
• Griffin Sundays at the Griffin (New York)
• Legendary Beer Bust at Wrangler (Denver)
• Fritz (Boston)
• Sidetrack (Chicago)
• The Abbey (Los Angeles)
• Crocker (Houston)
• Just John's (St. Louis)
• The Grapevine (Dallas)

Favorite gay bar/club:

• Badlands (San Francisco)
• Town Dance Boutique (Washington, D.C.)
• Therapy (New York)
• X Bar (Denver)
• Club Cafe (Boston)
• Roscoe's (Chicago)
• The Abbey (Los Angeles)
• F Bar (Houston)
• Just John (St. Louis)
• The Round-Up Saloon (Dallas)

Favorite bartender:

• Mike at Lookout (San Francisco)
• Carlos at JR's (Washington, D.C.)
• Jacob at G (New York)
• Kurt at Tracks (Denver)
• Joe Jovelle (Boston)
• Linda Little (Chicago)
• Anthony Saldana (Los Angeles)
• Leo at South Beach (Houston)
• Christian Lucas (St. Louis)
• Dylan Brown (Dallas)

Best gay night/party:

• Beatbox (San Francisco)
• Bear Happy Hour at Town (Washington, D.C.)
• Alegria (New York)
• Thursdays at Tracks (Denver)
• Epic Saturdays at the House of Blues (Boston)
• Northalsted Market Days (Chicago)
• Rasputin (Sat., Los Angeles) / Stripper Circus at Here Lounge (Wed., Los Angeles)
• Saturday Nights at South Beach (Houston)
• Attitudes Nightclub (St. Louis)
• Purple Party (Dallas)

Best DJ:

• Haute Toddy (San Francisco)
• TIE: Matt Bailer and Shea Van Horn (Washington, D.C.)
• Corey Craig (New York)
• Sean O'Grady (Denver)
• Richie LaDue (Boston)
• Phil DaBeatz (Chicago)
• Josh Peace (Los Angeles)
• Joe Ross (Houston)
• Charlie Buttons (St. Louis)
• Brandon Moses (Dallas)

Fiercest drag queen/nightlife personality:

• Pollo Del Mar (San Francisco)
• Shaquita Lee (Washington, D.C.)
• Bianca Del Rio (New York)
• Nina Flowers (Denver)
• Katya Zamolodchikova (Boston)
• Frida Lay (Chicago)
• Raven (Los Angeles)
• Kofi Cakes (Houston)
• Dieta Pepsi (St. Louis)
• Krystal Summers (Dallas)

Local hero/community advocate of the year:

• Scott Wiener (San Francisco)
• Barack Obama (Washington, D.C.)
• Anderson Cooper (New York)
• Corky Blankenship (Denver)
• Elizabeth Warren (Boston)
• Bill Pritchard (Chicago)
• John Duran (Los Angeles)
• Annise Parker (Houston)
• Leon Braxton (St. Louis)
• James Doyle (Dallas)

Best local gay news outlet:

• The Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco)
• Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)
• Next Magazine (New York)
• OutFront Colorado (Denver)
• EdgeBoston.com (online, Boston) / Bay Windows (print, Boston)
• Windy City Times (Chicago)
• Frontiers (Los Angeles)
• OutSmart Magazine (Houston)
• The Vital Voice (St. Louis)
• Dallas Voice (Dallas)

Nearly 1 million Grindr users log on to the app every day and transmit 7 million chat messages and 2 million photos to one another. Grindr users spend about an hour and a half using the app daily, and they log in an average of eight times per day. Up to 71,000 users are logged onto Grindr at any given moment, and nearly 10,000 new users around the world join the app every day. For more information about Grindr, visit Grindr.com, check us out on Facebook at Facebook.com/Grindr or follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/Grindr.

About Grindr
Launched in 2009, Grindr is the premier all-male geo-social network that uses location-based technologies to bring together a global community of more than 4.5 million users in 192 countries. Since launching on Apple iOS devices, Grindr has created versions for iPad, Android and select Blackberry models, and they've devised an enhanced, subscription-based upgrade called Grindr Xtra. For more information about Grindr, please visit Grindr.com.

SOURCE Grindr