eHarmony Enters 20th Century
Posted on | November 20, 2008
After years of blatantly discriminatory practices, same-sex relationships are on the table at eHarmony, one of the biggest online matching services:
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 Web site 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.
As half of a Match.com marriage that began over a dozen years ago, I’m happy to see eHarmony dragged, however unwillingly, toward equality.
