Ronni Morgan, a 34-year-old living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, spent two weeks in the hospital last February. Soon after she was discharged, cities around the United States issued stay-at-home orders to stop the transmission of COVID-19. That’s when she decided to join HER, a dating app for womxn and queer folx.
“I don’t have to feel bad about the fact that I can’t really go out and do stuff right now,” she thought while recovering from her hospital visit. “I’ll just… see who’s on there, now that we’re all locked down.”
Then she came across Adriane (AJ) Johnson’s profile. Or AJ came across Ronni’s profile — it depends who you ask. Either way, the attraction was mutual, and the two started messaging back and forth.
But meeting in person wasn’t tenable. AJ, a 41-year-old living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was a two-and-a-half-hour drive away, and the coronavirus was spreading across the country. So, on March 23, AJ and Ronni’s first date took place virtually.
“We kept trying to stop talking,” AJ says of their inaugural hangout, “but we talked until about one in the morning.”
It wasn’t long before talking turned into dating. Between texting, FaceTime, watching Netflix