Michelle Malkin » eHarmony forced to offer same-sex dating services; Update: And now, a class-action lawsuit

eHarmony forced to offer same-sex dating services; Update: And now, a class-action lawsuit

By Michelle Malkin • November 20, 2008 12:59 AM

Scroll down for updates…

So, this is “progress?” eHarmony, a Christian-targeted dating website, gets sued by a gay man demanding that the business match him up with a same-sex partner. The New Jersey Attorney General intervenes on behalf of the gay plaintiff and forces eHarmony to change its entire business model. To be clear: The company never refused to do business with anyone. Their great “sin” was not providing a specialized service that litigious gay people demanded they provide. This case is akin to a meat-eater suing a vegetarian restaurant for not offering him a ribeye or a female patient suing a vasectomy doctor for not providing her hysterectomy services. Sadly, eHarmony has settled . I wish they hadn’t, but I understand the decision given the chilling antics of the anti-Prop. 8 mob. The company agreed not only to offer same-sex dating services on a new site, but also to offer six-month subscriptions for free to 10,000 gay users. Behold the submission:

Coming soon to EHarmony — Adam and Steve.

The Pasadena-based dating website, heavily promoted by Christian evangelical leaders when it was founded, has agreed in a civil rights settlement to give up its heterosexuals-only policy and offer same-sex matches.

EHarmony was started by psychologist Neil Clark Warren, who is known for his mild-mannered television and radio advertisements. It must not only implement the new policy by March 31 but also give the first 10,000 same-sex registrants a free six-month subscription.

“That was one of the things I asked for,” said Eric McKinley, 46, who complained to New Jersey’s Division on Civil Rights after being turned down for a subscription in 2005.

The company said that Warren was not giving interviews on the settlement. But attorney Theodore Olson, who issued a statement on the company’s behalf, made clear that it did not agree to offer gay matches willingly. “Even though we believed that the complaint resulted from an unfair characterization of our business,” Olson said, “we ultimately decided it was best to settle this case with the attorney general since litigation outcomes can be unpredictable.”

The settlement, which did not find that EHarmony broke any laws, calls for the company to either offer the gay matches on its current venue or create a new site for them. EHarmony has opted to create a site called Compatiblepartners.net.

Warren had said in past interviews that he didn’t want to feature same-sex services on EHarmony — which matches people based on long questionnaires concerning personality traits, relationship history and interests — because he felt he didn’t know enough about gay relationships.

eHarmony had been previously sued by a lesbian looking to force the company to match her up with another woman and by a married man who sought to force the company to hook him up in an adulterous relationship.

Perhaps heterosexual men and women should start filing lawsuits against gay dating websites and undermine their business. Coerced tolerance and diversity-by-fiat cut both ways.

***

GayPatriot West gives eHarmony’s capitulation thumbs down.

Update 4pm Eastern 11/20. Geez. Now, a California judge has approved a class-action lawsuit by gays against eHarmony. When it rains, it pours:

(onlinedatingmagazine.com – November 20, 2008) A California Superior Court judge has certified a class action lawsuit against eHarmony.com for discrimination against gays and lesbians in California. The news comes one day after eHarmony settled a case in the State of New Jersey where a gay man accused the company of discrimination. In that settlement, eHarmony agreed to open up a service that matches gays and lesbians.

That announcement had no affect in the California case, which is moving forward.

Posted in: Proposition 8

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#553235

On November 21st, 2008 at 10:39 am, FamilyMan said:

right4life said:
…and the church is raptured out of hear (I sure hope)

I don’t believe in the rapture, but I’ll guard your retreat if it happens.
#553256

On November 21st, 2008 at 10:45 am, FamilyMan said:

Misscheryl
We all have a common ground. I call Natural Law and others call it religion. It all come down to the same belief which is knowledge of God’s grace on those who follow the order that was given to us.
#553266

On November 21st, 2008 at 10:50 am, Misscheryl said:

FamilyMan said:
Misscheryl
We all have a common ground. I call Natural Law and others call it religion. It all come down to the same belief which is knowledge of God’s grace on those who follow the order that was given to us.

Agree to the point that God is the creator and created the order of all things, ie, the nature of things, regardless of dogma.
#553268

On November 21st, 2008 at 10:50 am, CantCureStupid said:

Wow… this thread is STILL kicking.

Nice to see you all this beautiful morning.
#553291

On November 21st, 2008 at 10:59 am, battleaxe said:

Hate the sin, love the sinner. Very few people “hate” gays. However, most Americans believe that practicing homosexuality is wrong. The fact that the gay community is not only extremely vocal, but downright abusive to people that don’t bow to their whims doesn’t help. There aren’t many people willing to aid and abet someone who is committing a sin, whether it be theft, alcohol abuse, or in this case, sexual abuse.

To put it another way, if you’re practicing homosexuality, you’re doing it wrong.
#553299

On November 21st, 2008 at 11:03 am, FamilyMan said:

Misscheryl. I believe this is our common ground for all of us on our Michille’s blog when Thomas Jefferson, appealed to unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” He derived these ideas from Christianity and the study of Natural Law.
#553337

On November 21st, 2008 at 11:17 am, RetFireman said:

eHarmony is a service. Those who supply a service are not allowed to deny this service to people on the basis of certain immeutable traits they posess (gender, race, age, sexual orientation). eHarmony violated this, and they were duly punished. End of story.

It is a service…however, the service that was being offered was dating opportunities for heterosexual, single or divorced individuals. They were NOT denying anyone, regardless of their sexuality, from seeking out a heterosexual relationship from their list of single or divorced individuals.

What this person and the courts have done, is tell the proprietor that he needed to add an entirely new and different service that was not previously in their business plan.

That is where this has gone wrong. It is the same as telling McDonalds that they must now begin selling spaghetti, since it was not previously offered, nor part of their business plan, but because someone wanted it and they did not offer it.

The fact that you idiots cannot see the difference is astounding and only shows that you don’t freaking care about what this guy wanted or did not want, only that your agenda is driven down people’s throats.

This is not tolerance. It is fascism. It is thuggery. All of you who support such things are nothing more than scum and I wouldn’t hit a dog in the a$$ with any of you.
#553381

On November 21st, 2008 at 11:32 am, Mookie said:

On November 21st, 2008 at 3:08 am, RetFireman said:

Well…maybe he was being inundated with all the straight porn and just could not find any gay porn…?

Results 1 – 10 of about 18,500,000 for gay porn. (0.07 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 784,000 for straight porn. (0.14 seconds)

Oh the HUMANITY!!!!

Your search methods are flawed.

Results 1 – 10 of about 112,000,000 for porn -gay. (0.20 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 18,900,000 for “gay porn”. (0.27 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 18,600,000 for dating service -gay. (0.40 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 1,150,000 for gay dating service. (0.18 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 11,000,000 for nightclub -gay. (0.23 seconds)

Results 1 – 10 of about 319,000 for gay nightclub. (0.18 seconds)
#553382

On November 21st, 2008 at 11:33 am, SHoward said:

I heard this on a Christian station back home once.

A man in a church congregation announced to his pastor that he was gay. He actually said “what are you going to do about it?”

The pastor said “If you’re wondering if you’re welcome here, anyone that confesses the name of Christ is welcome here. But if you want me to affirm what you do in bed at night, I can’t do that. It is a sin.”

Now, to all you chowder heads preaching about liberal tolerance and religious hatred: how is that scenario hate? What did the pastor do that was hateful or wrong? I’ll answer for you: NOTHING.

This is the way of the Christian. If you bothered going into a church once in a while you’d find out for yourselves how full of it you are.

Oh yeah: GO THREAD!
#553408

On November 21st, 2008 at 11:46 am, chapoutier said:

Now, to all you chowder heads preaching about liberal tolerance and religious hatred: how is that scenario hate? What did the pastor do that was hateful or wrong? I’ll answer for you: NOTHING.

You are right that there is nothing wrong with this, but what the pastor says in his church is not really the point of this thread, or really one on the many many points that has been discussed on this thread.
#553425

On November 21st, 2008 at 11:54 am, SHoward said:

Actually, Chap, just a few posts up one of the lefties were just saying how much those of us on the right seemed to hate gays.

From the prestigious Emu:

Just one last question: What did gays ever do to you? I would guess they must have done something pretty horrible to you, or your family, to warrant such massive hatred?

My purpose was to respond to that by illustrating something that happened once a number of years ago. Most Christians don’t hate anybody. My post points that out, and is relavant because it was brought up by past commenters.
#553434

On November 21st, 2008 at 11:56 am, chapoutier said:

All right. Admittedly I skip Emu’s post.

Sorry.
#553450

On November 21st, 2008 at 12:04 pm, RetFireman said:

flawed? my ‘Search Methods” are listed right there.

I did a simple search, one time only. I did not spend an inordinate amount of time until I got the results that would suit any particular goal, which apparently you did.

If anyone’s is flawed, dare I say even dishonest, it would be yours.

I chose the words that you see, did ONE simple search one way, then changed it to the direct opposite. That is all.

Now, you can spend all day doing search after search, over and over, until you get the results you are looking for, however, I don’t have that kind of time.

Try not to be quite so disingenuous next time, `k?
#553461

On November 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm, RetFireman said:

I am done with this thread. there must be better things to do than to continue going on and on showing the trolls, (Emu, MP et al) just what hypocrites and thugs they are.

Doing so is like attempting to make Himmler see why his philosophies are wrong. It will never happen, they are far too brainwashed to be deprogrammed.
#553469

On November 21st, 2008 at 12:10 pm, granite said:

On November 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm, RetFireman said:

I am done with this thread. there must be better things to do than to continue going on and on showing the trolls, (Emu, MP et al) just what hypocrites and thugs they are.

Doing so is like attempting to make Himmler see why his philosophies are wrong. It will never happen, they are far too brainwashed to be deprogrammed.

You are exactly correct.

Yet again I have to say…irreconcilably opposite worldviews.
#553488

On November 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm, ITookTheRedPill said:

irreconcilably opposite worldviews.

God vs. Satan

God wins.
#553659

On November 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pm, gunslingerpatriot said:

Here’s the link again (I hope it works this time)

I own the book and its available on Amazon.com

GSP
“This is Sparta!”
#553666

On November 21st, 2008 at 2:03 pm, gunslingerpatriot said:

I am still having problems making the link work and would encourage you to check it out on Amazon.com

Sorry my geek skills aren’t working today

GSP
“This is Sparta!”
#554812

On November 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 pm, ITookTheRedPill said:

gunslingerpatriot,

Here’s the fixed link.
#554813

On November 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm, ITookTheRedPill said:

gunslingerpatriot,

The problem was that when you select text and click the “link” button, the popup window contains:

http://

If you already have the complete link, you need to delete that text (or paste over it when it is highlighted). Instead, you pasted your link after that text, so your link looked like the following and didn’t work…

http://http//www.amazon.com/...