ChristianMingle Agrees To Include Gay Singles
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | July 06, 2016
ChristianMingle.com has agreed to open its doors to gay singles following a class-action lawsuit claiming discrimination.
The lawsuit, filed by two gay men in 2013, charged that dating sites owned by Spark Networks, Inc. were violating California's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which requires businesses to offer “full and equal accommodations” to all customers regardless of sexual orientation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Under the terms of an agreement approved Monday by a state judge, Spark Networks, which also owns CatholicMingle.com, AdventistSinglesConnection.com and BlackSingles.com, did not admit any wrongdoing and agreed to pay each plaintiff $9,000, plus attorneys' fees. Spark Networks also owns JDate.com, a Jewish dating site, but that site was not part of the litigation.
ChristianMingle users were required to specify whether they were a man seeking a woman or a woman seeking a man. The sites will now only ask users their gender. Additional searching and profile features will be added within two years.
Vineet Dubey, who represented one of the lead plaintiffs, said: “I am gratified that we were able to work with Spark to help ensure that people can fully participate in all the diverse market places that make our country so special, regardless of their sexual orientation.”