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Proud_Democratt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 10:48 AM
Original message
eHarmony sued for excluding gays
Matchmaking site founded by evangelical Christian Dr. Neil Clark Warren

LOS ANGELES - 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.

http://www.prouddemocrats.net/viewtopic.php?p=670#670
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 10:53 AM
Response to Original message
1. To my gay and lesbian friends: You're not missing out on anything worthwhile
Edited on Sun Jun-03-07 10:54 AM by slackmaster
And you are not alone - eHarmony excludes a lot of heterosexuals as well. Try taking the free personality profile. Many people are told they are not suitable for the service.

Their track record on lasting relationships isn't too great either. Google around and you will find many anecdotes of relationships that seemed OK at first then unraveled within a year or two.
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Colobo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 10:54 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. I was one of them. Probably because of me saying that religion had little impact on my life.
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 10:55 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. Same here - Also the part about being a moody loner who collects firearms
Edited on Sun Jun-03-07 10:56 AM by slackmaster
:rofl:
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DKRC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. You sound like their target demographic ...
Did you slip up and tell them you don't live in your Mom's basement? :evilgrin:
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Colobo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 10:53 AM
Response to Original message
2. E Harmony is obviously a RW dating web site
They advertise almost every RW talk show around here.

Still, don't they have the right to service whoever they want? Aren't dating sites oriented to certain people? I've seen African-American dating services, Jewish dating services, Gay dating services... This one seems to be a White, Christian dating service.
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Proud_Democratt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 11:04 AM
Response to Reply #2
6. I completely agree!
This is RW BS!
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Fredda Weinberg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 12:49 PM
Response to Reply #2
11. We went through that with bus service
Interstate commerce is federally protected.
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msongs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 10:54 AM
Response to Original message
3. its a private business so what's the big deal? plenty of glbt "date" services around nt
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BlooInBloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #3
10. The big deal is whether or not it's legal - not whether or not you think it's frivolous....
... DU consensus seems to be that it's a slamdunk for the plaintiff.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1015812
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Solo_in_MD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 02:52 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. I would not call it a concensus, and some think e-Harmony has a pretty good defense
They claim to base their services on studies of successful relationships. All they have studied/profiled is heterosexual relationships so that is all they are offering. A good case could be made if they offered GLBT services without similar research would be fraud.
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 03:28 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. Sexual orientation is not yet federally protected - Note that the suit was filed in California
Edited on Sun Jun-03-07 03:30 PM by slackmaster
The state of California prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. If federal law did, this would surely have been filed in federal court. At issue is eHarmony's right to do business in California.

Religion is federally protected, so eHarmony may be on a stronger legal footing than Jewish Singles WRT federal law. Enforcing state law against a business that operates on the Internet is going to be problemmatic.
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Solo_in_MD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 03:49 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. This won't be much of an issue, even for the California courts
The defense is that we don't offer non-hetero matching at this time since we don't have adequate research. To take their money therefore would be fraudulent. Its no more discrimination than a resturant not serving halal or kosher food.

Some states have tried long arm tactics, some by statue, others by the courts, again, it should not matter here.

The Internet angle is another approach. Be curious how the plaintiff asserted that the California courts have jurisdiction. That could kill the suit off even earlier.


I fully expect the plaintiff to lose and I hope they get nicked for the defendants legal costs. This is that bogus
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madrchsod Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 11:21 AM
Response to Original message
7. there`s a new site
that jabs at eharmony for excluding people...it`s pretty funny
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silverlib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 12:20 PM
Response to Original message
9. Suing for the right to get taken to the cleaners...
I hope the people win, just to bankrupt this business. Gay, lesbians, and bisexuals are joining a lot of heterosexuals. I can't find a link, but some guy sued them a while back for taking thousands of dollars for nothing and something about using paid actors/actresses to present success stories.
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dsc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 02:56 PM
Response to Original message
13. I am torn here
I think this case is a close call and should turn on what service they are offering. If they wish to be a religiously conservative dating service and sell that, I think they should be permitted, even in states with laws protecting gays from descrimination, to refuse to serve gays. On the other hand, if they are claiming to sell a generic dating service I think it is a different story.
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Mark_Pogue Donating Member (274 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 04:22 PM
Response to Reply #13
16. I can understand your position...
but suppose eHarmony started excluding Atheists, Buddhists, Jews or any other group that Dr. Neil Clark Warren deemed as a conflict of his interests???
I wonder if he follows employment guidelines for his employees???
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rickrok66 Donating Member (141 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-03-07 04:46 PM
Response to Original message
17. Why sue e-harmony?
Who would want to date a vanilla flavored Baptist girl anyway? There are plenty of other dating sites that target specific demographics. There is even a site for vampires ( http://www.waningmoon.com/vampirepersonals/ ). I am afraid that if the plaintiff wins then the Fundies will turn around and sabotage all the other dating sites that they consider immoral (like the vampire one).
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