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Post subject: eHarmony sued for excluding Gays
 Posted: Jun 01, 2007 - 02:10 PM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1754
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eHarmony sued in California for excluding gays
Quote:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The popular online dating service eHarmony was sued on Thursday for refusing to offer its services to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
A lawsuit alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Linda Carlson, who was denied access to eHarmony because she is gay.
Lawyers bringing the action said they believed it was the first lawsuit of its kind against eHarmony, which has long rankled the gay community with its failure to offer a "men seeking men" or "women seeking women" option.
They were seeking to make it a class action lawsuit on behalf of gays and lesbians excluded from the dating service.
eHarmony was founded in 2000 by evangelical Christian Dr. Neil Clark Warren and had strong early ties with the influential religious conservative group Focus on the Family.
No doubt this recent settlement of a somewhat similar case in California will be on a number of lawyers' minds.
While I do not believe eHarmony's statement that "Nothing precludes us from providing same-sex matching in the future. It's just not a service we offer now based upon the research we have conducted," I also don't think they should have to. While they may be guilty of heterosexist language (and who isn't these days), they are quite obviously a heterosexual dating site. It's not like there aren't Gay dating sites... on the contrary, there are a number of them. Its my belief that Ms Carlson would be admirably served by one of them and that she should leave the heterosexuals to their mating rituals in peace.
This situation is a whole lot more like the Peel than it is like adoption.com. |
_________________
"If you want the freedom, the abilities, you have to find a way. Just don't be so passive. We are capable of so much more." -- Larry Kramer
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Post subject: RE: eHarmony sued for excluding Gays
Posted: Jun 01, 2007 - 02:52 PM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 26, 2006
Posts: 440
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| Yaah, it's the assimilationist vs separatist discussion. The assimilationists struggle to be permitted into each and every heterosexual organization and accepted as equal, and strongly believe this will remedy every wrong against the Gay people. What's use to sue Boy Scouts to permitt Gay kids, too? They will not feel welcomed anyway, lawsuit be won or not. Better set up our own institutions, tailored for our own needs -- all the gay dating portals and gay bars proove that this concept usually functions perfectly well. |
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Post subject: RE: eHarmony sued for excluding Gays
Posted: Jun 01, 2007 - 06:59 PM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1754
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| This concept functions quite well indeed. Perhaps it could function better... all societies evolve over time. There is a distinct difference between public services that are owed to all persons and services which suit only a portion of the public. Dating services are at the top of the list of this latter category. There is no credible reason whatsoever to believe that eHarmony would be in the least bit useful to a woman seeking another woman or a man seeking another man. Now, such services should honestly bill themselves as straight dating services. The Boy Scouts were sued pretty much on the basis that they were a 'public service' open to all youths, not just the 'special' ones that suited the tastes of the Boy Scouts. This suit was decided in favor of the Scouts, not the lad who sued them. They are not a 'public' organization, but a private, religiously based one. They are welcome to their identification as such, and just as welcome to the restrictions that must be applied to them from time to time. The solution to that particular problem from the perspective of the Gay youths is clearly a separate, equally privately based, organization directly tailored to their needs. Unfortunately, the attempts in this regard to date have been excessively Utopian in my view and have failed to attract the attention of many youths. Such a program would have to have inherent interest, after all; Gay youths have a tendency to make their own decisions for themselves, a trait that is less pronounced in straight youths of my acquaintance. |
_________________
"If you want the freedom, the abilities, you have to find a way. Just don't be so passive. We are capable of so much more." -- Larry Kramer
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