For those of you who don’t know, eHarmony has come under a lot of pressure in the last year, both from Chemistry.com advertising and lawsuits, because the company does not provide services to gays and lesbians. While it’s clear that the matrimony-centered dating service has strong Christian roots, their stated reason for not accepting gay money has always been that their matching system was based on heterosexual relationships.

eHarmony labs are constantly studying relationships and compatibility to tune their questionnaire which determines a whopping twenty nine dimensions of compatibility. Whether you believe computers can predict love or not, eHarmony boasts almost 200 marriages a day. The success of their model has inspired variations, like Chemistry (a Match.com company) and gay versions like MyPartner.com.

While eHarmony pursued business in markets as diverse as China and India, they never seemed very motivated to invest in expansion into the lucrative gay markets. When you consider that gays are one of the most prolific users of online dating services, the old standby of ‘œwe don’t have any data on gays’ smelled of a lame excuse. After all, how hard would it be for one of the largest and most successful dating sites in the world to get data when you’re pretty much guaranteed a return on investment?

Now, under the terms of their settlement they have until March 31st to provide service to gays and lesbians in search of love. So, can we expect to see a revolutionary service that changes the way gay life partners discover each other?

The new service will be called ‘œCompatible Partners’, a generic-sounding off-brand that eHarmony doesn’t want associated with its primary user base. Also, this is the exact same questionnaire eHarmony has maintained for years was designed for straights. eHarmony makes no guarantees, but if you want to try it out, they will now accept your money.

The algorithm eHarmony uses may work just fine for gays and lesbians but my gut says no. In my research I’ve found that there are very different dynamics that determine not only attraction but also satisfaction and dissolution rates between gay and straight couples. I doubt ‘œtop or bottom’ is one of the 29 dimensions of compatibility.

I didn’t agree with the lawsuit when it was originally brought and the outcome bothers me. eHarmony is still closed to gays’”the company that owns them is now providing an identical service under a segregated brand with the caveat that it’s probably not as effective. Victory? Maybe for some, but bisexuals will need to maintain two accounts or wait for the next lawsuit.

The sad thing is that in spite of the perfunctory nature of this effort, eHarmony will probably make a decent margin off Compatible Partners based on the strength of their brand and the publicity of the settlement. It’s important to remember one thing: the lawsuit was not won, but rather settled in the most expedient manner possible to make bad PR go away. While we can force companies to provide services, we can’t make them care. This move was good for eHarmony’s image but it remains to be seen if it was good for anything else.

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When not analyzing the dimensions of compatibility, Mike occasionally updates Broken Cupid, a dating blog for single gay guys.

Photo credit: Youtube.com Photo.