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eHarmony Must Merge Gay and Straight Sites in Settlement
As The Associated Press reports, eHarmony has agreed to merge its gay and straight sites in an attempt to settle a recent lawsuit from users who found the site's dualistic practices discriminatory. You'll recall that in November, the site was forced to create a "separate but equal" site for
It was clear back in November that the quarantine-like, two-site approach was not only discriminatory and demeaning toward homosexuals, but toward the bisexual or even bi-curious swaths of the online dating community, as well. Assuming the settlement receives official approval, it will mark a small victory for equal rights advocates. But in a legislative environment that continues to lurch two civil rights steps forward and one step back, even the smallest of victories are significant. [From: AP/The Huffington Post]
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentshicaggiebrideJan 29th 2010 11:24AM
Putting gay/straight feelings aside, when is it good that a Court determines what a Free Enterprise individual wants to do with his company? Isn't the whole idea of individual freedom just that? Isn't that what Gay Rights initiatives are all about?
KenJan 29th 2010 12:03PM
Free enterprise stops at discrimination. If somebody ran a diner in South Carolina and decided they didn't want to serve African-Americans just cuz they 'didn't like them thar N-----s', that's discrimination and illegal in the United States of America, whether the diner was "private enterprise" or not. Same goes with the refusal to serve LGBT people on a dating website because the founder is a hateful antigay whacko. In America you can basically do what you want, except when it comes to discrimination. We all gotta get along for the country to function, and we can't afford to just "accommodate" hate in public affairs.
PookieBadMuffinJan 29th 2010 1:09PM
Name calling. Way to be a hypocrite, Ken.
And you're 100% wrong, we don't all "have to get along for the country to function." The fact that we don't "all get along" is what makes this country unique and celebrated. It also happens to be one of the primary reasons it was founded.
Maybe you really think coercion is freedom. I'll tell you what you have when we "all get along" - boredom, insanity, suicide. If you'd like to live in a place like that maybe you should visit the UK. I spent a year there one week.
Yes, people should disagree respectfully. But your attempt to label people who have certain convictions about homosexuality as "hateful" is not always (I'd say rarely) true. It's a disservice, generally, to your position.
As far as the ruling on the dating site, it's ridiculous - and a slippery slope to say the least. Using this argument, all dating sites must be generic - nobody can cater to a specific community of interest, such as seniors, ethnic groups, or even gays and lesbians.
As a young person, I'd no more decide to sign up for a senior dating site than a gay man would for a heterosexual site. A straight woman wouldn't sing up for a lesbian dating site either. It's common sense. There are plenty of sites to choose from, each serving the demographic it wishes.
This is not like being denied entry into a public school or being refused medical care at a hospital. It's dating, Ken, not a fundamental service or right.
terrenceJan 29th 2010 3:20PM
@pookiebadmuffin
I suggest you go back and read the original post I had written about this, http://www.switched.com/2008/11/24/eharmony-creates-separate-but-equal-site-for-gays/
Its not that everything has to be "generic" its that e-harmony markets itself as generic. If it were a niche religious dating site there would be no crying foul about discrimination. Being a "straight" dating site does not constitute a "niche" service therefore it is subject to anti-discrimination laws and creating a "separate but equal" site for gays and lesbians clearly constitutes discrimination.
And while you're right to say not all who disagree with homosexuality are "hateful" by definition, any one who would stand in the way of their inclusion in society is.
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