E-Harmony, founded by Christianist Neil Clark Warren, will begin providing dating services fro same sex couples in 2009 as part of a settlement with the State of New Jersey which had charged e-Harmony with violating New Jersey's non-discrimination laws. The relationship services will be offered through a Compatible Partners site which is not yet live. Personally, I'm not sure why one would want to utilize a service founded and run by anti-gay individuals (especially when there are other gay friendly services), but I am nonetheless glad that e-Harmony will be required to comply with the applicable non-discrimination laws. Here are highlights from PR Newswire:*
eHarmony, Inc. and the New Jersey Attorney General's Division on Civil Rights (DCR) have settled allegations that the company violated New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination (LAD) by failing to offer a same-sex matching service. As a result of the settlement agreement, eHarmony, Inc. will start a new service for same-sex matching called Compatible Partners by March 31, 2009. The settlement makes clear that eHarmony, Inc. has not been found in violation of the law.
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The case originated in 2005 when a New Jersey resident filed a formal complaint with the State alleging that eHarmony violated his rights under the LAD by not offering a same-sex matching service. For more than three years, eHarmony vigorously contested the allegations of the complaint. On July 23, 2007, however, the Director of the DCR issued a Finding of Probable Cause that eHarmony had violated the LAD. eHarmony filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the finding, which was pending at the time of the settlement.
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The Compatible Partners site and eHarmony.com will both benefit from the company's commitment to long-term relationships. The two sites will maintain their own matching pools, registration information, and subscriptions. The separate matching pools are based on whether the user chooses to seek an opposite- or same-sex relationship. As a result, users of the Compatible Partners site and eHarmony.com cannot be matched with each other.
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Under the settlement agreement, the company reserves the right to inform those using the new same-sex matching service that the Compatibility Matching System(TM) developed by eHarmony is solely based on research involving married heterosexual couples.
Under the settlement agreement, the company reserves the right to inform those using the new same-sex matching service that the Compatibility Matching System(TM) developed by eHarmony is solely based on research involving married heterosexual couples.
1 comment:
As far as I'm concerned, since they are compelled by law to now offer it, I wouldn't bother with them. If I'm in need of such service, I would choose would that was inclusive from the outset.
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