Legal News

eHarmony Settles With NJ AG; Will Offer Matching Service for Gays

By Nathan Koppel

eHarmony, Inc., which runs an online dating service for heterosexual couples, must now cater to a gay clientele. That is the upshot of a settlement the California company reached today with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

In what seems like a novel claim to our ears, the Garden State asserted that eHarmony violated the state’s Law Against Discrimination by not offering a same-sex matching service. New Jersey got involved following a complaint by Eric McKinley, a gay match-seeker in the state.

eHarmony has denied violating the law, claiming that its business model has been based on its expertise to date. The company says it has researched thousands of opposite-sex marriages to understand what makes opposite-sex couples compatible.

But, as a result of the settlement, eHarmony next year will launch a same sex matching service called Compatible Partners, which will be marketed in gay and lesbian media outlets, according to a FAQ that the company released today. The document makes clear that users of eHarmony.com will not be matched with users of the new site, compatiblepartners.net.

“I applaud the decision of eHarmony to settle this case and extend its matching services to those seeking same-sex relationships,” said J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo, director of the New Jersey AG’s Division on Civil Rights.

Here’s a statement from the AG’s office and here’s a copy of the settlement.

eHarmony faces a similar discrimination claim in California. It’s unclear how this settlement will affect that case. “Now that we’re entering the same-sex matching market, we fail to see what the [California] plaintiffs could achieve through further litigation,” says Antone Johnson, a vice president of legal affairs at eHarmony.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 19, 2008 (boomark / email).