November 24, 2008 - PPM - e(dis)Harmony Lawsuit

This week’s PET PEEVE MONDAY (PPM) is about the recent eHarmony lawsuit.

A California lawyer filed suit against eHarmony on behalf on a San Francisco lesbian.

She claims discrimination because eHarmony specializes in men meeting women, and has no category for women seeking women.

Neil Clark Warren, Ph.D., who developed eHarmony's matchmaking program, had long rejected the idea of matching same-sex couples -- in part because he said his research was based on heterosexual married couples. His research and business plan was NOT based on gay couples or their dating habits.

The suit will be dropped because eHarmony will now launch a gay dating site.

Why didn’t the litigant just use a site that caters to “same-sex dating?”

Here is MY PEEVE. Since when does litigation decide how a PRIVATE business operates?

In short, eHarmony is not a public utility, like the phone company, which must carry anyone's message. This is a garbage suit that should be thrown out immediately.

I’m not gay bashing here. In fact, I am an ordained clergyman and able to perform Same Sex Unions in the states where these unions are legally recognized.

What I am PEEVED about is how someone can litigate a company into providing a business that they have chosen not to offer.

If this is a new business development process, then:

I should sue McDonald’s so that they bring back the McSteak sandwich again. When I worked there in 1979, it was the best thing going. Maybe there was too much inventory shrinkage causing a monetary loss on the product line. It was a GREAT sandwich.

I should sue Ebony magazine for not having more European-American articles.

I should sue Sony for not offering a 43-inch HDTV that fits into my entertainment unit.

I should sue Vegetarian restaurants for not offering me a “meat-based” option.

I wouldn’t be surprised if eHarmony was now forced to offer “little people” options, “foot inclination” preferences, and “multiple personalities” choices. Although I’m not sure how you price someone with 16 personalities like Sybil.

What is ironic is that eHarmony will probably laugh all the way to the bank.

They will be able to utilize their economies of scale in developing the gay dating sites. They only have to make a few small computer code changes.

Their purported “homophobic” pockets will now be lined will the coin of people they supposedly despise and discriminate against. Nice move.

I’m PEEVED that PRIVATE Companies should not be litigated into offering business services or products counter to their stated business objectives.