We’ll know that the companies really care when they either a) refuse to comply, or b) shutdown instead of violating their consciences. Via CT:
For the first time in 11 years, same-sex couples can find “God’s match for you” on the site.
ChristianMingle.com will open its 16 million-member site to gay and lesbian users following an anti-discrimination lawsuit.
According to a settlement approved by a California judge last week, the country’s most popular Christian dating site will offer options for same-sex matches, rather than limiting searches to “a man seeking a woman or a woman seeking a man,” the Wall Street Journalreported.
The plaintiffs in the case sued ChristianMingle in 2013 for violating a California civil rights law requiring “all business establishments of every kind whatsoever” to offer full accommodations regardless of a person’s sexual orientation (among more than a dozen other protected classes).
A spokesperson for ChristianMingle’s parent company, Spark Networks Inc., said they recognize that “this is a divisive issue and hope that the greater good of our mission is what people appreciate about us.”
ChristianMingle, known for its commercials promising to “find God’s match for you,” is the largest dating site owned by Spark Networks. The company brought in $48 million last year running niche sites including JDate.com, LDSSingles.com, CatholicMingle.com, and AdventistSinglesConnection.com, as well as sites for black, aging, and deaf daters. The settlement applies to all of Sparks Networks sites.
ChristianMingle has already changed its homepage to ask users about their own gender and let them select their own search parameters.