eHarmony Creates Separate But Equal Site for Gays
The settlement gives $5,000 to 46-year-old Eric McKinley, who filed the original suit in 2005, $50,000 to the Attorney General's office to cover administrative costs, and requires eHarmony to launch a new personal ad site aimed at gays and lesbians. That's right, apparently it isn't a violation of anti-discrimination laws to subscribe to a "separate but equal" model.
We try and stay off our high-horse most of the time, but this is patently ridiculous. The company released a statement explaining, "we ultimately decided it was best to settle with the Attorney General since litigation outcomes can be unpredictable." Which is code for, "this is the only way we could keep the queers off our site."
eHarmony stands to actually make money from this settlement once Compatible Partners (the new gay personals site) goes live. It will offer free six month subscriptions to the first 10,000 people who sign up, but after that it's nothing but gravy for the creepily wholesome matchmaking company. [From: Digital Media Wire]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Toria said 2:22PM on 11-24-2008
If I had a business and was sued for not hiring or catering to gays, I'd close my business. Period. I would never allow the government to force me to compromise what I believe. Homosexuality is WRONG. And no, I don't hate gays. My neice, nephew and surrogate daughter are all gay. But loving them doesn't mean I wille ever accept their lifestyles because I won't.
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Bob said 10:54PM on 11-24-2008
It's a private business and they can do as they please. I would hardly call it discrimination if a site targeted at heterosexual couples doesn't accommodate homosexuals. If so, then sites targeted for gay people should change their structure to accommodate straight people.
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Mike said 11:31AM on 12-10-2008
all the gay network sites ive seen do accomadate Str8 ppl...
Bradford said 5:00PM on 11-25-2008
Yeah, this article is bullshit. Keep your personal politics to yourself and report news. Litigation like this is such a joke and that "creepily wholesome" site eHarmony was stupid to settle. Good hell, give them some credit to being wholesome, even if you think it's creepy.
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Terrence said 5:00PM on 11-25-2008
@Toria, your comment makes no sense. Clearly you do hate, and you discriminate. Just cause you disagree with a persons life style doesn't give you the right to deny them basic freedoms like employment and legal rights. How would you feel if someone refused to serve you at a Starbucks because of your views on gays. You are not a law abiding citizen based purely on the views you express here.
@Bob, It may be a private business but the devil is in the marketing. If eHarmony marketed itself as an online Christian singles club that would be one thing, but as a service that makes no such distinction it is clearly in violation of anti-discrimination laws. Serving heterosexuals is not niche marketing, since it advertises itself to the general public as a non-targeted dating site to exclude based on sex, race, or orientation is against the law. This isn't the same as a site that caters to gays, a better analogy would be a site that catered to white couples only. The problem is homophobia is more acceptable than racism in our society, which is why people would be up in arms if eHarmony excluded blacks, but seem to be generally accepting of it excluding gays.
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