The heterosexual dating website agreed to start Compatible Partners
for same-sex couples as part of the settlement of a discrimination suit.
The adamantly heterosexual dating website, which has accepted only male-female couples since its inception in 2000, is launching a gay matchmaking service called Compatible Partners (www.compatiblepartners.net).
But EHarmony's new relationship with the gay community is more like a shotgun wedding: The company agreed in November to start the dating service as part of a settlement with the New Jersey attorney general in the wake of a discrimination suit.
Dating site consultant Mark Brooks says Compatible Partners will be watched closely.
"This will be one of the most scrutinized products in Internet dating,"
said Brooks, who hasn't worked for EHarmony. "They will have to
introduce an A1 product."
It's not a comfortable fit for EHarmony's founder, Neil Clark Warren, who based the original service -- which requires applicants to fill out lengthy questionnaires -- on his own practice as a psychologist.
"It's what I did for 40 years," said Warren, 74, who is retired but remains on the board. "I never had a gay couple."
READ STORY HERE-!
The adamantly heterosexual dating website, which has accepted only male-female couples since its inception in 2000, is launching a gay matchmaking service called Compatible Partners (www.compatiblepartners.net).
But EHarmony's new relationship with the gay community is more like a shotgun wedding: The company agreed in November to start the dating service as part of a settlement with the New Jersey attorney general in the wake of a discrimination suit.
Dating site consultant Mark Brooks says Compatible Partners will be watched closely.
It's not a comfortable fit for EHarmony's founder, Neil Clark Warren, who based the original service -- which requires applicants to fill out lengthy questionnaires -- on his own practice as a psychologist.
"It's what I did for 40 years," said Warren, 74, who is retired but remains on the board. "I never had a gay couple."
READ STORY HERE-!
