eHarmony lawsuit settlement

[Brad Pardee]

Another lawsuit along the lines of the photographer forced to take pictures at a same-sex ceremony (I can't remember if it was a marriage or a civil union.)

According to a news article on Yahoo, online dating site eHarmony.com has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a gay man in New Jersey for discrimination because they didn't offer the option of searching for a same-sex partner.  They will set up a new website called "Compatible Partners" as part of the settlement.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081119/us_nm/us_gay_marriage_eharmony

In a fuller article at the Houston Chronicle's website, (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6121126.html) "Theodore B. Olson, an attorney for eHarmony, said that even though the company believed McKinley's complaint was 'an unfair characterization of our business,' it choose to settle because of the unpredictable nature of litigation."

I know that eHarmony founder Neil Clark Warren is an evangelical, and so I was surprised that eHarmony settled.  According to an article on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EHarmony#Criticism_and_response), the reason they had only offered heterosexual dating services was that he had not done the same research into same-sex match making and that eHarmony is geared toward marriage, which would be illegal for same sex couples in most states.

My question for this group: Suppose a similar organization had fought the lawsuit on the grounds that it would require them to actively aid in behavior which their faith teaches is sinful.  I don't know that the "pharmacists dispensing birth control" arguments would translate because there are no health issues involved and there would also be no parallel when it comes to alternate options (i.e., only pharmacists being able to dispense birth control).  If the photographers could be required to take pictures at a same-sex ceremony, regardless of their religious beliefs, could the same requirement be made of a dating service?  Or would the higher level of involvement enable their religious freedom claim a better chance of success?

Brad
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