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suit forces eharmony to offer gay dating service
Published Nov 20, 2008Views: 106
Suit forces eHarmony to offer gay dating serviceWed Nov 19, 3:33 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Online dating service eHarmony has agreed to create a new website for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement with a gay man in New Jersey, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said on Wednesday.
The website will provide a dating service with "male seeking a male" or "female seeking a female" options, the Attorney General's office said in a statement.
eHarmony said it will launch the new same-sex dating site, named "Compatible Partners," by March 31.
The settlement was the result of a discrimination complaint filed by Eric McKinley against eHarmony in 2005, which will be dismissed under the settlement agreement.
eHarmony was founded in 2000 by evangelical Christian Dr. Neil Clark Warren and had ties with the influential religious conservative group Focus on the Family.
The New Jersey complaint is not the only legal action to be brought against eHarmony for failing to provide a same-sex option.
In March, lawyers in California brought a lawsuit against the company on behalf of San Francisco resident Linda Carlson, who was denied access to eHarmony because she is gay.
"We believe that this case is now essentially moot, and we're confident that we will prove that in court," eHarmony vice president Antone Johnson said in a statement about the California case.
(Reporting by Rebekah Kebede, Editing by Sandra Maler)
** There are a LOT of internet dating sites. There are those that offer a wide variety of services and cater to different interests that the people may have ranging from intimate encounters, married seeking addtl side comfort, man seeking woman, woman seeking man and there are those that allow for men seeking men and women seeking women. Why couldn't this guy go to one of those sites that would allow him to search for his specific need? I think match.com and the majority of sites do allow for this. Why did Eharmony settle? What do you think? Why is it that when people dont get their way they sue and companies, businesses, other people bow down to them and fold making them the winner? What do you think?"
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I wasn’t exactly supporting the gay dude’s suit, but rather wanted to examine all the arguments. The more I think about it, the more I agree with your stance. But what should not be argued is stuff like they don’t provide service for gays, or the gays can go somewhere else. It should simply be something like, here is our product/service, we hope you like it. :)
Someone more cynical or suspicious might wonder if eHarmony orchestrated this so they could claim they were “forced” to enter the gay dating service market. :)
GOLO member since August 16, 2007
November 21, 2008 8:30 a.m.
I see no different between BET and eHarmony here except for their product.
GOLO member since January 2, 2008
November 20, 2008 4:35 p.m.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
November 20, 2008 10:52 a.m.
GOLO member since September 11, 2008
November 20, 2008 10:51 a.m.
GOLO member since August 16, 2007
November 20, 2008 10:44 a.m.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
November 20, 2008 10:44 a.m.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
November 20, 2008 10:43 a.m.
GOLO member since January 2, 2008
November 20, 2008 10:40 a.m.
GOLO member since January 2, 2008
November 20, 2008 10:39 a.m.
Again, like I said, it’s all in the semantics. Dude and lawyers probably argued it boiled down to “gays are not allowed”. eHarmony didn’t mount a good defense, or maybe they say the diamond encrusted light and “settled”. :)
GOLO member since August 16, 2007
November 20, 2008 10:39 a.m.
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