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compatibility. They forgot to mention their system is not set up for gay people. Surprised? I'm not. The founder, Dr. Neil Warren Clark (seen at right) has been a clinical psychologist for 35 years. He's considered an "expert" in marriage counseling and has been hailed by Time Magazine and USA Today as a "must read" author. So why would such a successful relationship mogul not want to expand his services to the gay community? Afterall, the gay community is a huge market and big supporter of LGBT-friendly companies. I started to question the motives of the eHarmony founder and did a little research. According to his website, Dr. Neil Clark Warren earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from The University of Chicago, where he also served as a counselor and adjunct faculty member. He received his Masters of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and completed his undergraduate degree at Pepperdine University. He is an evangelical Christian and attributes much of eHarmony's initial success to its promotion on the daily radio broadcast of Focus on the Family, a Christian non-profit organization.
If there's anything that says "NO GAYS ALLOWED" it's a company founded by a conservative Christian. These are the things they don't tell you when you sign-up for eHarmony.com's services which is why one Northern California native, Linda Carlson, is suing the company for discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals. Now are you surprised?
According to The Advocate, Linda Carlson said she tried to use the Internet site in February to meet a woman but could not based on her sexual orientation. When Carlson wrote to eHarmony to complain, the company refused to change its policy, according to the lawsuit filed on her behalf in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The lawsuit claims that by only offering to find a compatible match for men seeking women or women seeking men, the company was violating state law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
"Such outright discrimination is hurtful and disappointing for a business open to the public in this day and age," Carlson said in a statement. The suit names Pasadena-based eHarmony, company founder Neil Clark Warren and his wife Marylyn, the company's former vice president, as defendants. It seeks class action status, a jury trial and unspecified damages. The company, which conducts extensive personality profiling before introducing couples with matching values and interests, denied the allegation.
"The research that eHarmony has developed, through years of research, to match couples has been based on traits and personality patterns of successful heterosexual marriages," a company statement said.
"Nothing precludes us from providing same-sex matching in the future, it's just not a service we offer now based upon the research we have conducted," the statement said.
I don't know about you, but this whole situation has gotten me pretty pissed off. It's bad enough the GLBT community isn't allowed to get married, but to be excluded from something as simple as a dating website based on sexual orientation is an outrage. I welcome your thoughts and comments on this matter and I also invite you to email eHarmony and express your feelings on their discriminative policies. Let the gay community be heard!
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