A Positive Place for Romance: The Hope™ Dating Platform Supports Singles With STDs

The Short Version: Getting a date may seem daunting to singles who have tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease, but there’s hope for their love lives. Specifically, a dating site named Hope™ was built just for singles with STDs. This free dating platform welcomes a network of 40,000+ people looking for love and support. The dating site and app facilitate easy searching and instant connection with men and women who accept people without judgment over a health condition. Private, secure, and reliable, Hope is maintained by a team of designers and psychologists working to create a safe place where daters can be open about who they are.

Sexually transmitted diseases sometimes feel like a taboo topic when you’re dating. It can be hard to segue from “I had a lovely dinner” to “When’s the last time you were tested?” or “I need to tell you something.” Most people don’t want to have that conversation with someone they’re attracted to, but it’s necessary to ensure that daters are aware and safe.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately one in every six people (ages of 14 to 49) in the U.S. have genital herpes. Widespread conditions like this often get overlooked or misconstrued, to the detriment of those affected.

Regardless of stigma, people with STDs have to — and deserve to — go on dating and living their lives, and there are some good-hearted people out there trying to help. Hope is a dating platform specifically for people who have tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease. The site and app confront this sensitive topic with positivity and openness.

A trustworthy dating site, Hope was created through the combined expertise of psychologists, web designers, and dating pros.

By injecting hope into the love lives of singles, the site fosters a community of open-minded people who can look beyond a person’s health status and value who they are.

“Hope is a website created to help people with herpes and health issues find a new, happy, and satisfied life,” Josh Mason, a Spokesperson for Hope, told us in our talk with him. “It’s not only a dating service but pages full of motivations and personal stories behind every member.”

Hope’s free signup process takes only a few minutes. The required fields cover basic personal information like your age, orientation, and general location. Some members choose to connect through their Facebook profile to add a level of legitimacy to their Hope profile.

Unlike most dating websites, Hope also inquires into your medical status, asking singles to disclose if they have HSV-1, HSV-2, Herpes, HPV, other STDs, or None & Don’t Mind.

To protect users online, new profiles don’t get access to the site right away — first they must be verified and approved by the site’s support team. While your profile is pending approval you will not be able to log in or use any of the features. The good news is it typically takes less than 24 hours for someone to look over your profile and email you about the approval.

“It’s free of charge and will remain free as long as there’s hope in every one of us.” — Josh Mason, Spokesperson for Hope

Setting up the profile is quick and easy through the drag-and-drop profile builder, so members present their best face right away. On Hope, there are three ways to flirt — via chat, video, or forum posts — all of which are totally free and safe.

“Members have unlimited ability to decide who can see their profiles,” Josh said. “Privacy settings are well-made, and security is the highest level possible. We’re doing our best to keep Hope clean and spam-free.”

In addition to unlimited free flirting, Hope offers membership upgrades to get premium features. For a low monthly fee, paid members can add profile wall posts, hide advertisements, and send virtual gifts to other members.

Around 500 unique visitors come to Hope each day, and their membership totals over 40,000 singles. The ages of these members typically range from 25 to 40, and the gender split is pretty even, with slightly more females than males.

Hope has more than 40,000 members, with women making up 51.7%.

Hope enjoys a worldwide membership, but the largest percentage of people come from English-speaking countries, specifically the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. It’s also a fairly urban crowd. The top five cities represented on the site are New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and London.

Despite their diverse backgrounds and demographics, all singles with STDs share a common bond that brings them together.

“The main and most important reason for building Hope was to show people with STDs that they are not alone,” Josh said. “There’s someone out there who will understand 100%.”

Behind this revolutionary online dating community is a supportive team of professionals. Josh told us that Hope’s designers, psychologists, and dating experts are always brainstorming how to better serve the special interests of their members.

Each employee brings his or her own perspective to the collaborative effort, and together they lend great authority to Hope. The team’s overall mission is to combat the stigma by educating people about STDs and uniting people through understanding and compassion so daters have an easier time being honest about their health.

“Our motto is that no matter what happens, there’s always light in the tunnel.” — Josh Mason, Spokesperson for Hope

By reserving judgment, the Hope team does their best to embody their name and encourage singles with STDs to date with confidence and integrity.

“Every individual worker has their own characteristic and ideas, which we share with each other on a daily basis,” he said. “We are here to give hope to singles.”

The Hope app has all the features and fun of the desktop version — with the added convenience of being accessible on your phone.

The Hope app allows users to connect from anywhere.

Hope is available for free on iTunes and coming soon to Google Play, so singles with STDs can always stay connected to one another.

SpeedMatch offers hassle-free and on-the-go matching by providing random pictures of singles within close proximity to the member. Both simple and handy, the Hope app provides a quick flirting outlet for singles on the move.

According to the site, one of the biggest perks of the app is the fact that “you can keep in touch with a potential companion regardless of where you are, as long as you are connected to the Internet.”

Now singles can search for, message, and bookmark profiles from anywhere with Hope’s user-friendly application.

On Hope’s dating platform, singles can skip awkward conversations and be upfront about their health. For singles with STDs, this site takes away much of the pressure, stigma, and secrecy from dating. From new app features to a site redesign, the Hope team constantly innovates to improve the dating experience.

“We are positive about the future,” Josh said, “and look forward to making more people happy and satisfied with their lives.”

Through a simple setup and free messaging, Hope opens people up to a community of potential matches. Whether you come to the site in search of companionship, romance, or love, you’ll find hundreds of empathetic ears on this dating site.

“By creating Hope, we wanted to show that no matter what, life goes on, and you can be the master of your life,” he concluded.