Gay dating soon on eHarmony
2008-11-20 22:26
New York - Online US dating service eHarmony.com has agreed to set up a website for gays and lesbians seeking partners after being accused of discrimination by a gay man in New Jersey state.
Under the terms of a settlement agreement announced on Wednesday by the Division on Civil Rights of New Jersey's Attorney General's Office, eHarmony will begin providing same-sex matching services next year.
"The relationship website agrees to provide a new service for match-seekers identifying themselves as 'male seeking a male' or 'female seeking a female' by March 31, 2009," the Division on Civil Rights said in a statement.
"The company also agrees to ensure that same-sex users are matched via the same or equivalent technology as that used for heterosexual match-seekers," the statement added.
The agreement came more than three years after Eric McKinley, a gay match-seeker from New Jersey, filed a discrimination complaint against eHarmony.
The Division on Civil Rights conducted an investigation and ruled in 2007 that it had probable cause to uphold the allegations made by McKinley.
"As part of the settlement, eHarmony Inc. will provide a free, one-year membership to Eric McKinley," the statement said.
"In addition, the settlement calls for eHarmony, Inc. to pay McKinley $5 000, and to pay the Division on Civil Rights $50 000 to cover investigation-related administrative costs."
The settlement also calls for eHarmony to revise company publications to "make plain that it does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation."
The Pasadena, California-based eHarmony was founded in 2000 by Dr Neil Clark Warren, a clinical psychologist with once-close ties to the Christian evangelical group Focus on the Family.
As well as the United States, eHarmony offers its services in Australia, Britain and Canada.
Its website claims that 236 eHarmony members marry every day in the United States as a result of being matched on the site using eHarmony's patented "Compatibility Matching System".