eHarmony’s bastard website Compatible Partners launched yesterday, one day earlier than obliged. Okay, not a bastard, just the first dating site whose owners didn’t really want to create.
Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times wrote,
… 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.”
Warren is the former dean of the psychology graduate school at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. Much of the early promotion of EHarmony was done by well-known figures in the evangelical community, some of whom preach against gay rights.
As part of the settlement, Pasadena-based EHarmony must make a “good-faith commitment” to promoting Compatible Partners. But the company seems as nervous as the groom at a rehearsal dinner, insisting that the only on-the-record interview be with Chief Executive Greg Waldorf. That interview was canceled when the company learned Warren had spoken with The Times. …
What could be the cause of Waldorf’s caginess? Anyway, the company did spend on a short Business Wire press release this morning.
Gay blogsite Queerty of course posted a commentary this morning.
UPDATE: Here, so far, is the “most recommended” comment in the Houston Chronicle reprint of this article:
bubbabodcat wrote:
From the article, “Even Warren is finding out that gay couples might not be so different after all.” And this guy is 74 years old and a psychologist? A bit of a slow learner, ya think?
You practiced for 40 years and never met a gay couple? Now why would a self respecting gay couple go see him for counseling help if he won’t even acknowledge they exist?
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