Christian dating site removes ban on gay matches after legal battle
Dating site ChristianMingle has removed a ban on same-sex relationships after court action.
The religious dating website had only allowed men to search for women and vice versa – but its owners were sued in 2013 by two gay men who said the site’s refusal to allow LGB people to find matches was unconstitutional.
The California lawsuit was settled last week – with the site’s operator Spark Networks Inc agreeing to allow same-sex couples to use the site to find matches.
Under changes rolled out this week, all users have the option to search through matches of either gender.
The changes are rudimentary, however – searches appear to show all users of the desired gender, rather than those who have specified they are interested in same-sex relationships.
The settlement applies to ChristianMingle.com as well as sister sites CatholicMingle.com, AdventistSinglesConnection.com and BlackSingles.com.
Back in 2013, the founder and CEO of dating website eHarmony, who previously said that his site didn’t cater to gay people because they couldn’t get married, said that the recognition of same-sex marriages and civil unions in the US had “damaged” his business.
The company, eHarmony was founded in 2000 on the premise that by matching people with compatible personality traits the site could provide people with matches they could successfully marry.
Earlier this year, a new dating site has launched – that only caters for people who are straight and white.
