Embroiled in litigation for over two years, the online dating behemoth eHarmony has now agreed to pay two million dollars to settle a class action sex discrimination lawsuit. California residents who were named in the lawsuit will receive $4,000 each.
eHarmony, based in Pasadena, was founded by conservative Christian Neil Warren, who has been a vocal supporter of traditonal heterosexual marriage for many years. Although the site provides matchmaking services for Jewish, Hispanic, black, Christian, and seniors, eHarmony has resisted the inclusion of a gay and lesbian section since it launched in 2000. The company contends that their proprietary matchmaking system is based on studies of heterosexual couples, and it will not work for same sex couples.
In court filings eHarmony pointed to websites such as gay.com and gays4men.com, which provide only same sex matches. Saying the company “does not stand alone when they provide their relationship-matching services to a single sexual orientation,” attorneys for eHarmony attempted to have the case dismissed early in the trial.
Under the terms of a previous lawsuit, eHarmony had already launched a service for gays and lesbians in 2008, called compatiblepartners.com. The terms of this latest lawsuit dictate that the company must now allow gay and bisexual users access to its traditionally heterosexual site at eHarmony.com.
The most recent settlement, filed yesterday in Los Angeles Superior Court, will force eHarmony to provide a “gay and lesbian” section to their eHarmony website. The section will redirect visitors to Compatible Partners, and users will now be able to access both sites for a single monthly fee. In addition, the Compatible Partners website will now display the logo of eHarmony in a “prominent position.”
Neither eHarmony nor its attorneys returned a request for comment.
Comments
what will heterosexuals do now???? meet in bars? or at a coofee shop????
there are so few venues provided in this world for heterosexuals to meet, this probably means the end of humankind.
I am terrified. Why must heterosexuals be so abused by society???
Why oh why???
In return, E-Harmony should place ads into gay-friendly dating and relationship sites. To do so would balance things out a bit. Do you think gays would accept this idea for one minute? Of course not! After all, they only speak tolerance - but they never, ever show anything but hatred and violence, as evidenced by the disruptive behavior in California last year. Shame on them!
I'm going to sue "Baskin Robbins" for not selling me brocolli spears.
Your article states, "eHarmony, based in Pasadena, was founded by conservative Christian Neil Warren, who has been a vocal supporter of same sex marriage for many years."
In fact, Neil Warren has been vocal in his opposition to gay marriage. I think this was a mistake that got past your copy editors.
I am a gay man, and I say that this is not a victory for gays and lesbians. When one person's rights are violated, the rights of all are threatened, including the rights of gays and lesbians.
eHarmony is a private company and has the right to formulate their business plan as they see fit. If they want to offer matchmaking services to heterosexual customers only, that is their right. No one has been damaged as a result of eHarmony's policy, so no one should have any standing to sue eHarmony over this issue. Allowing this lawsuit to go to trial was a violation of the rights of the owners of eHarmony and all involved should be ashamed.
GREETINGS AND FAITHFUL SAYINGS:
Greetings to one and all: In that most precious name. That name which is above every name, the name: "Jesus" ____There's tremendous power in that name. I'd suppose we'll never fully realize all that can truly be accomplished, by us simply calling out that name in true faith.____There's an old, old, gospel song that goes like this: Faith in the Father, faith in the Son, faith in the Holy Spirit, great victories are won. Demons will tremble and sinners will awake, faith in Jehovah will anything shake.____For you who have never come into this realization, if you're reading this, just give him a welcome into your heart and life. You will both feel and see an awesome difference. You will have also purchased the ticket to heaven (by accepting, therefore making him welcome to come into your life. You will also sup from His cup that contains living water. (As did the woman at the well of Bethesda.) John 4:10____Much love, ____Your brother in Christ Jesus, who i
I am also gay, and I agree with John W. on this issue. This is not a victory for gays and lesbians. This is an atrocity and this is one of the many reasons that the religious right's vile words against the gay rights movement sometimes are more accurate than I wish them to be.
eHarmony is a private company whose business operations are not entitled to public involvement. We provide privately-held corporations with a lot of leeway to operate as they see fit, as long as they do so within the terms of the law. The attorneys for eHarmony were right in mentioning all the "gays only" dating sites out there as evidence that their work is acceptable.
I am just waiting for a straight person to file a lawsuit against gay.com for now allowing straight dating advertisements. I hope someone does it, to send a message to the attorneys here that yes, you have your rights (we all do), but those rights should now allow you to trample over top of anyone else's, either (like eHarmony's, in this cas
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