EHarmony Settles Civil Lawsuit Brought By Eric McKinley Over Same-Sex Dating Services

eHarmony, a Christian-targeted dating website, capitulated to the demands of Eric McKinley, a gay man, to offer same-sex dating services. The New Jersey Attorney General intervened on behalf of the gay plaintiff and forced the company to change its entire business model. As far as I have read, 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. Similar to the fact that they want to denigrate blacks in California for voting in favor of Proposition 8. I was very disappointed to learn that eHarmony settled. 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. Well, coming soon to EHarmony -- Adam and Steve....

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's attorney Theodore Olson, issued a statement in which he 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. I guess the time has come for heterosexual men and women to start filing lawsuits against gay dating websites and undermine their business. It seems to me that they are seeking to hijack our belief systems. The bottom line is diversity by fiat often backfires. Forcing others to accept the idea of same sex marriage is a tactic that not will work. It will continue to meet tremendous resistance. There are better ways to bridge this divide than force-feeding it down our throats. I don't have an issue with them having civil unions, but don't force me to go against my beliefs. Though some will make the argument that gay is the new black in the fight against racial injustice, I scarcely believe the two can be compared. It seems to me that suddenly we are being made to feel wrong in voting according to our convictions. Just my thoughts, you be the judge....