eHarmony Forced to Offer Same Sex Dating Service.
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.
These sorts of suits always irritate me because they are invariably brought by someone just wanting to make a fast buck. Are there really lots of gay people clamoring to use eHarmony's 29 dimensions of compatibility to find a life partner? Somehow, I expect that homosexuals looking for love go to LGBT dating services.
Shakesville is exasperated, but for different reasons.
Another aspect of this story that is irritating me is that "winning," in this case really means setting up a portal for LGBTQI folks to send their money to a group that hates them. In case you weren't aware, eHarmony is run by a evangelical with strong ties to the ultra-right wing Christian community. He was buddies with James Dobson, for Maude's sake (although he's "distanced" himself from Dobson, for a variety of reasons). Let's just say they were probably voting Yes on 8.
Maybe this will set up more protests, complete with threats and press coverage, for the No on 8 crowd.
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