" The online dating service was founded by an evangelical and had close early
ties to the lead religious right activist organization Focus on the Family. And
now they're being sued for excluding gays. I suspect the suit is based on local
public accommodations laws, which include sexual orientation in numerous places
around the country (i.e., you aren't allowed to turn away customers just because
they're black, women, etc.) I remember when we were taking on Sandals, the
previously virulently anti-gay Caribbean resort. An ACLU lawyer at the time told
me that they could potentially be held liable under a public accommodations suit
in any city in which they seek customers so long as the city (or state) includes
sexual orientation in its public accommodations law. And I can't wait for the
evangelicals to try to argue that their dating service is really a church."
I support gay rights, but that also means I support their right to form their own dating services online. Forcing yourself into a service that doesn't want you seems just silly. What is the result they are after, are they after a monetary gain, if so how are they going to show damages. If they are after forcing the site to open itself to gays, gays would be entering a site that was unfriendly to their being there. I am not going to argue that this is a church, but it is more like a social group. Does the government have the right to force membership in a social group.
Form your own site, they lose your money and you get a site that is actually concerned about gays. Even if the site allows gays on to it, no one can make the site care abut gays and their special concerns.
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