Christian Mingle Must Let LGBT Singles Use Dating Website

[stromboli]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/christian-mingle-same-sex-dating-lgbt-lawsuit-california-1.3663871

God-loving gay singles have won the right to mingle on the world's most popular Christian dating site â€" and every other faith-based matchmaking network owned by its parent company, following a California court ruling.

Spark Networks, which owns ChristianMingle, JDate, and LDSSingles.com ("the largest dating site by Mormons for Mormons"), first came under legal fire in 2013 after two gay men noticed that new members could only search for dates of the opposite sex.

In filing a class-action lawsuit, the men alleged that Spark was breaking California anti-discrimination laws by making it impossible for members of the LGBT community to use its services.

Same-sex Christian couples couldn't be matched through ChristianMingle because members couldn't register as gay in the first place.

"Spark has engaged in a systemic and intentional pattern and practice of arbitrary discrimination against gays and lesbians throughout California by denying them full and equal services, accommodations, advantages and privileges in connection with many of its commercial dating services," reads the class-action complaint filed in December 2013.

As the Wall Street Journal points out, a California state law known as the Unruh Civil Rights Act mandates that "all business establishments of every kind whatsoever" treat every person within the jurisdiction as free and equal regardless of sex, race, religion, marital status and sexual orientation, among other things.

The suit against Spark states that, at the time of its filing, individuals wishing to use the Spark dating sites for Christians, Catholics, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, military singles and black singles could only choose from two options on the home screens of these services: "a man seeking a woman" or "a woman seeking a man."

Last week, approximately 2½ years after the lawsuit was originally filed, Judge Jane L. Johnson of the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County approved a settlement agreement in which Spark agreed to modify its site and search features to include LGBT singles within two years.

The company did not admit to any wrongdoing, but it did agree to pay each plaintiff $9,000 US and cover the $450,000 they had accumulated together in legal fees.

ChristianMingle's homepage now asks users only for their gender. There are currently no options for selecting the desired gender of one's matches throughout the sign-up process, in filling out a profile, or in searching the site for matches once registered.

Under the terms of the court agreement, this will change â€" though there's a vocal contingent of people online who don't believe it should.

Twitter critics of the court decision are saying that it's the result of a "bully verdict," an assault on religious liberty, or worse.

Others though, are celebrating the move as an act of inclusion for a group that, despite much progress, still faces discrimination and violence on account of who they love.
"I thought ChristianMingle was a website for Christians to mingle," wrote one commenter on a forum post about the ruling. "I guess that's not allowed."

"Of course it is," another person replied. "And now it includes those Christians seeking a same-sex relationship â€" which many Christian churches approve of."

AH HAHAHA HAAAA! LET THE BUTTHURT BEGIN!

Circle the wagons!
get down on your knees!
all of them fag- uh, gays
can do as they please!

We can't be exclusionary!
We got to allow the "others" in!
Now we got to allow the fairies-uh, transgender
bring in their sin!

Oh lordy mama!
God is pissed!
Too much drama!
Can't live with this!

Make this business equitable!
even handed not unilateral!
The fallout will be inestimable
The damage now has gone collateral!

Jesus wept! I do perceive!
thanks to the courts imperial!
A crushing blow to those who believe
The fundies are weeping into their cereal!

Not too sad, I'd call it crass
The best thing (today) I ever saw
Stick your bigotry up your, uh, posterior
Eat your bigotry and eat it raw!

(I need my coffee now)

Lol, carry on 

[SGOS]

Christian singles milling around a dating site?  Let's call a spade a spade.  That Christian single mingle is for one purpose only.  They are looking to get laid, because they've got dirty little minds.  They can't just go to church and hook up.  They have to keep looking around; Looking and looking until they find someone who will actually go to bed with them.  Oh they put up a good front:  "We are all about Christian love, not like those other people.  bla, bla, bla."  But gay people using a site designed by Christians who want to get laid?  Who knows where it will take the world?  Christians getting laid by non Christians.  Gays getting laid by Christians.  What we need is more order and control so that things can be the way they're supposed to be.

[stromboli]

Being well involved religiously for so many years I have seen some very abusive situations. Religion is rape culture, period. An LDS singles ward is an ideal hunting ground for predators. Such a big issue is made of virginity and being "pure" when married, the field is ripe for abusing women and shaming them into silence. The scenarios for abuse are legion.

When I got back into religion after the Navy and dating-at BYU in Provo, Utah- there was a sea of women to choose from. And I saw abuse. I was only for a short time involved in a singles ward. Imagine one guy with a paycheck and available and fairly fit among a dozen women, all taught from birth that their primary duty is marriage and breeding children. The girls told me stories of being stalked, of men in their dorms, peeping toms and a lot of abusive behavior, any of which that was reported only came back as shut up and stop complaining.

PS- never try to rhyme "equitable" before you have had your coffee. 

[Blackleaf]

As a twenty-something Christian white man living in the buckle of the Bible belt, I tried this online dating thing. eHarmony couldn't match me with a single person who lived less than an hour away. On top of that, because of the site's sleazy marketing, many of the members are free users that you can't share your picture, phone number, email, address, or any info required for actually meeting with the people. All dating sites are the same that way. After I stopped wasting my money on it, I found a girl on a free app that wasn't even made for finding dates.

Imagine trying to find someone on one of these sites as a gay Christian man. A victory? Maybe. Now Christian LGBT people can waste their time and money too, I guess.

[Atheon]

Anything that makes steam come out of the ears of fundies is a good thing.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Sylvia and I meet with craigslist.. Yes, I AM the craigslist serial killer..
Oh wait..She's still alive!  I've failed at being a successful serial killer..I just can't do anything right.

[widdershins]

I don't begrudge them having their own thing.  Since they promote the site as a place for people with similar values to meet then they should be able to exclude anyone who does not share those values.  I'm going to have to side with the Christians on this one.  They weren't actively promoting a harmful message, the sight was just designed to be used by Christians as they defined them.  And this type of exclusion is common-place in "specialty groups" which pander to a particular crowd.

If you look at it from their perspective, this is exactly the kind of thing that makes them believe themselves to be persecuted and feel as if gays are "shoving their lifestyle in our face", as they often put it.  (Yes, I do know how very much is wrong with that statement and it's not how I, personally, feel.)  So they don't let you into their super-special club because you're gay.  Get over it and find a different dating site.

[Flanker1Six]

Flanker has ALWAYS recommended serialkillers.com for all your online dating needs!   That way; you always know what to expect.   

A staring role as a dismembered corpse on a future episode of Investigation Discovery!     

[GSOgymrat]

Gays have already been using Christian Mingle.

https://youtu.be/KDd6S-SnWlM


How about gays off Christian Mingle and "straight" Christian men stay off Grindr.

[Hydra009]

I don't begrudge them having their own thing.  Since they promote the site as a place for people with similar values to meet then they should be able to exclude anyone who does not share those values.  I'm going to have to side with the Christians on this one.

Yeah, me too.  If gays were being turned away at the grocery store or cake store because they're gay, that's one thing.  But this site and lots of dating sites are going for a certain demographic and only a certain demographic.  I don't begrudge some christian dating site for excluding gays and more than I would begrudge jewishmingle.com for excluding non-jews or blacksingles.com for excluding white people.

I've never particularly liked minority websites or publications (commercial ventures that market themselves purely to a specific sex or race), but their existence doesn't seem like it'd jive well with a law that mandates that people of all sexes, races, etc are entitled to equal accommodates from all businesses.

[Hydra009]

How about gays off Christian Mingle and "straight" Christian men stay off Grindr.

I'm not gay (not that there's anything wrong with that) but sometimes I like to look at rock-hard abs and glutes.  Not gay though.

[GSOgymrat]

I wonder how social justice advocates feel about this ruling. They often advocate for exclusive "safe spaces" or "sacred spaces" for women and other populations but they are also against LGBTQ people being excluded from organizations.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I'm not gay (not that there's anything wrong with that) but sometimes I like to look at rock-hard abs and glutes.  Not gay though.

It must be true. Denial IS a river in Egypt! 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

What about transpecies people? I'm a 122 meter firebreathing mutant lizardthingy trapped in a human body! You know how hard it is to meet "like-minded" people?

[Hakurei Reimu]

^ You and @Hijiri Byakuren have much to talk about.