eHarmony Must Offer Services to Gay Singles

Gay and lesbian singles looking to date online will now be able to use the services of eHarmony.com because of a settlement reached Tuesday.

The site has been in a legal battle for two and a half years because it allowed gays and lesbians to search for mates only on a separate website, Compatible Partners, according to the Los Angeles Times. As a result of the $500 million class-action lawsuit, there will be a gay and lesbian category on the main site. Jewish, Christian, black, and senior daters are already served by eHarmony.com. As part of the deal, bisexual singles can join both eHarmony and Compatible Partners for one fee.

The complaint was filed after eHarmony complied with the settlement provisions of another lawsuit, mandating that the company offer same-sex matchmaking.

eHarmony was founded in 2000 by evangelical Christian and clinical psychologist Neil Clark Warren. The Pasadena, Calif., company claims that it uses a scientifically developed questionnaire to match people with appropriate partners.