The clubs are strict they have security guards, and apparently everyone expects you to wear high heels and tiny dresses, neither of which are really my style. On two occasions, my friends and their tiny dresses were approved by the bouncer, but my mom jeans and I were not. I was embarrassed, but the fact that my friends decided not to go in made me feel a lot better.
If you had told me as a teenager in Soviet Georgia that one day I'd be running an American public tech company - let alone something like Grindr - I couldn't have grasped it. The moment I stepped out of JFK airport, I felt something different - later I realized it was freedom. America gave me not just liberty, but the chance to unleash my potential, pursue my dreams, and come to terms with being gay.