Embroiled in litigation for over two years, the online dating behemoth eHarmony has now agreed to pay two million dollars to settle a class action sex discrimination lawsuit. California residents who were named in the lawsuit will receive $4,000 each.
eHarmony, based in Pasadena, was founded by conservative Christian Neil Warren, who has been a vocal supporter of traditonal heterosexual marriage for many years. Although the site provides matchmaking services for Jewish, Hispanic, black, Christian, and seniors, eHarmony has resisted the inclusion of a gay and lesbian section since it launched in 2000. The company contends that their proprietary matchmaking system is based on studies of heterosexual couples, and it will not work for same sex couples.
In court filings eHarmony pointed to websites such as gay.com and gays4men.com, which provide only same sex matches. Saying the company “does not stand alone when they provide their relationship-matching services to a single sexual orientation,” attorneys for eHarmony attempted to have the case dismissed early in the trial.
Under the terms of a previous lawsuit, eHarmony had already launched a service for gays and lesbians in 2008, called compatiblepartners.com. The terms of this latest lawsuit dictate that the company must now allow gay and bisexual users access to its traditionally heterosexual site at eHarmony.com.
Read full story at examiner.com