Lawsuit Settled: eHarmony to Include Gay and Lesbian Singles

The online dating giant eHarmony has agreed to pay two million dollars to settle a class action sex discrimination lawsuit after spending two years in litigation, according to the Examiner. 

California residents who were named in the lawsuit will receive $4,000 each.

Conservative Christian Neil Warren, who has been a vocal supporter of same sex marriage for many years, founded the Pasadena-based matchmaking site. 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. They insist that their matchmaking system is based on studies of heterosexual couples and it will not work for same sex couples.

eHarmony launched a service for gays and lesbians in 2008 called compatiblepartners.com. However, the terms of this latest lawsuit dictate that the company must now allow gay, lesbian and bisexual users access to its traditionally heterosexual site at eHarmony.

The settlement filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court will force eHarmony to add a section for gays and lesbians to their eHarmony website. The section will redirect visitors to Compatible Partners and users will now be able to access both sites for a single monthly fee.

The proposed settlement would require eHarmony to display its gay and lesbian dating services more prominently.

For example, a "gay dating" link would be added to the bottom of the home page where there now are links for black, Hispanic, Jewish, Christian and seniors dating.

A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles still must approve the proposal.

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