Disharmony, The New Tolerance

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- June 7 -- Last week, a lesbian filed suit against eHarmony.com for not serving individuals "based solely on their sexual orientation." When I asked why Carlson didn't simply go to another dating service, her lawyer evoked the image of Rosa Parks, noting that "nearly every step in civil rights law, you could have said the same thing...There is a big difference between the sites that allow the customers to self-select who they are looking for" and a site that makes the decision "to exclude a minority group." But the answer isn't to make eHarmony be what it is not, but to let others create something like eHarmony for gays and lesbians. Mark Brooks, spokesman for the gay online matchmaking service myPartnerPerfect.com, said of eHarmony: "I think they're having a bit of an unfair time of it. I think it's their right to have a niche focus, but they've not quite said the right thing, and their underlying tone has riled people up." 

The full article was originally published at TownHall, but is no longer available.

Comments

[Sam Moorcroft, ChristianCafe.com]

I like "The Geezer" 's comments on this very issue (see http://onlinepersonalswatch.typepad.com/news/2007/06/eharmony_accuse.html#comments):

"Where is the outcry about Gay.com [Sam: or substitute any other gay site] not catering to hetros?"

Isn't that a "Rosa Parks" issue, too?

[Sam Moorcroft, ChristianCafe.com]

I wonder if GayHarmony.net was created to prevent someone else from registering it and trying to leverage off of the name...?

[Sam Moorcroft, ChristianCafe.com]

They also own the .com...

Or, at least, it appears that way. The registration is actually private, but has "eharmony.com" above [email protected]

That could be anybody.

[Justin Cannon]

They acquired the domain from me in January 2007. I used it for a gay Christian dating site before they acquired it.

[free online dating]

i really don't see why it was necessary to take them to court, there are plenty of dating sites around that would forfill those needs and it would be very boring if all dating sites offered exactly the same services