Eharmony for gays
eHarmony's new inclusive ads are enraging some on the right
Once viewed as unwelcoming to the LGBTQ collective, popular online matchmaker eHarmony has gone through a queer-friendly rebranding of late.
The site, which boasts more than 2 million messages a week, began offering same-sex matches in 2019. This winter, it launched its first queer-inclusive commercial, featuring a lesbian couple.
The ad, “I Scream,” is part of eHarmony’s current “Real Love” campaign and opens on a female couple in their kitchen. In between kisses, one lady tastes her partner’s cooking and makes it dispel she’s not a fan. The pair wind up on the couch enjoying a pint of ice cream and going in for another peck.
“Being straightforward with each other,” a voiceover announces. “Saying yes to great ideas. eHarmony — here for concrete love.”
Gareth Mandel, chief operating officer at eHarmony, told NBC News it was important that “our ad campaigns, our platform, and everything else we complete accurately reflect what concrete love, real dating and real relationships look enjoy both today and always.”
“We’ve spent substantial time recently bringing our entire team together to formalize a company mission and standards statement
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–eHarmony, the business that built much of its early success by advertising in Christian media, has launched a parallel matchmaking website for homosexuals, billing it as service that helps foster “serious relationships for the homosexual and lesbian community.”
The CompatiblePartners.net website went live in recent days, several months after eHarmony and the New Jersey attorney general’s office announced a settlement to an investigation that began nearly four years earlier when a gay man filed a complaint alleging that eHarmony — which at the moment didn’t match same-sex couples — was in violation of state law. Recent Jersey has an anti-discrimination law covering “sexual orientation.”
As part of the November settlement, eHarmony agreed to launch the website, advertise it in homosexual media and allow the first 10,000 users to register for free. The brand-new website features pictures of men holding hands and women hugging and claims to be a “site for singles seeking a long-term, same-sex relationship.” But research shows such relationships, particularly ones involving men, are short-lived and rarel
Christian group blasts eHarmony for ‘glorifying sin’
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor
The prominent online virtual dating service eHarmony is facing backlash from the conservative Christian group One Million Moms for its recent LGBT-inclusive advertisement featuring a lesbian couple in a domestic setting.
The commercial is part of eHarmony’s “Get Who Gets You: Heated Laundry” campaign, which, One Million Moms says, is “normalizing and glamorizing the LGBTQ lifestyle.”
In the commercial, a lesbian couple is shown intimately lounging on a couch, their legs entwined and heads close together. As the laundry cycle completes, one of the women stands to collect the clothes while her partner sprawls on the bed. The scene continues with the first woman carrying the warm laundry to the bedroom. Standing next to the bed, she playfully cascades the laundry over her partner, then bends down for a touch, hidden amid the clothes.
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Throughout the advertisement, “Lost in Love” by Toodlum Barker & Emil Lomax sets a romantic tone
eharmony has announced a significant update to its dating website app to better aid LGBTQ daters.
Beginning today, eharmony members will be competent to choose from an expanded list of genders to authentically share who they are on the platform. This update stems from eharmony’s ongoing pledge to providing a platform that is safe, inclusive and welcoming for all of its members, and its mission to serve all members find actual love.
As LGBTQ identification rises–especially among Gen Z, it’s essential for platforms to consider and implement tries of inclusion to aid all users. Transgender people, in particular, face specific issues on dating apps so eharmony’s addition of greater ways for users to share information about their gender will let for people to link more authentically and deal with issues of self-expression and safety.
GLAAD consulted with eharmony on how to greater serve the LGBTQ group by helping identify ways for people to declare themselves more authentically on the platform and greater match with people they’re looking to date and connect with. GLAAD also worked with the corporation on information and resources to help educate eharmony staff as well as leadership on
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