After a two-year battle in the courts, online dating company eHarmony has settled a class action lawsuit in California to be more “welcoming” to gays and lesbians wanting to use their services.
According to the L.A. Times, last year eHarmony created a website specifically for gays and lesbians called “Compatible Partners” resulting from an unrelated lawsuit in New Jersey. But the California lawsuit will require eHarmony to list a “gay and lesbian” category on their main website, alongside religious, ethnicity, and age categories. By choosing the gay and lesbian category, a potential subscriber will automatically be redirected to the Compatible Partners website.
Also as part of the agreement, the eHarmony logo will be more prominently displayed on the Compatible Partners website, and will state that the website is “brought to you by eHarmony”.
eHarmony was founded in 2000 by clinical psychologist Dr. Neil Clark Warren, an evangelical Christian, and is based in Pasadena. The company did not provide any same-sex matching services until last year when it set up Compatible Partners, as eHarmony contended that their exclusive matching model was based on studies of heterosexual married couples.
eHarmony settled for $500,000, which means each plaintiff receives about $4,000.
For more info: Kelly is a writer and former speed dating host. Have a worst date story? Let her know at www.kellyseal.com, or tweet her @kellyseal.
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