When I heard about this lawsuit today, I was a little taken aback. A California woman is suing eHarmony because they won’t match gays and lesbians. Surely these civil rights attorneys have better things to do?
There are a number of reasons that I think this suit is stupid:
- The owners of this private entity feel that the lack the expertise to enter a particular market. That should be their choice.
- The market will (and has) taken care of this problem. Gay/lesbian dating sites clearly exist.
- eHarmony isn’t refusing service to homosexuals, they’re refusing to give one particular kind of service to ANYONE (gay or straight). Put another way: they won’t help a straight guy find another guy, nor will they refuse to help a gay guy find a nice girl. They just refuse to get into the same-sex matching game.
- Precedent. What would Ms. Carlson think about a lawsuit against some of those gay dating sites alleging discrimination because they won’t accommodate straight people? Should every personals site be required to accommodate every sexual preference?
On top of being patently stupid, it’s a huge waste of resources.
One of the biggest problems in our civil courts - in my completely uneducated opinion - is the rise of nuisance lawsuits. It’s cheaper for eHarmony to settle this - and that’s why it exists. It’s a total crock, but it happens thousands of times a day.