eHarmony Agrees to Settle Gay Discrimination Lawsuit

The Christian online dating service eHarmony has agreed to settle a California lawsuit that claimed their site discriminated against homosexuals.

eHarmony was founded by conservative Christian Neil Warren, who is a vocal supporter of traditonal heterosexual marriage. Although the site provides matchmaking services for Jewish, Hispanic, black, Christian, and seniors, eHarmony has resisted the including a gay and lesbian section since it launched in 2000. Then in 2008, under the terms of a previous lawsuit, eHarmony created a online dating service for gays and lesbians called compatiblepartners.net. However this new site was totally separate from eHarmony.

Under a proposed settlement, filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, eHarmony will have to link their straight website (eHarmony) to their Gay website (Compatible Partners) and allow people to use both without paying double fees. However as part of the settlement, eHarmony does not have to admit any wrong doing.

Plaintiff's attorney Todd Schneider says the company also agreed to pay about $500,000 to an estimated 150 Californians to settle the class-action suit, plus around $1.5 million in court and attorney's fees.

Lesbian Dating and Relationship Blog Named # 1 on Lesbian Review Site

I am thrilled to announce that my Blog, Lesbian Dating & Relationships, was rated the #1 Lesbian Dating Blog in a recent post called, "Top 50 Lesbian Dating Blogs" from the web site www.lesbiandating.net. Lesbiandating.net is a website that reviews a variety of lesbian dating sites and lesbian dating blogs.

How to Get a Good Response From Your Lesbian Online Personal Ad

A friend of mine recently asked me for some help with writing an online personal ad for a lesbian dating site she joined. I gave her a few tips and then I remembered I had written an article about just that subject a while back. Since I figured it is probably a subject that others may be interested in as well, I thought I would re-post it, with a few updates.

Creating an online personal ad doesn't have to be brain surgery, but it does require a little time and effort, if you want to get a response.

Here are a few tips to help you get through it:

1. Find a Lesbian Online Dating site: For many of us this step may be the easiest part, but for those not so familiar with the Internet, you may need a little help.
   
   There are actually quite a few lesbian dating sites on the Internet, so you may want to take a look at a few of them before you decide where you want to place your personal ad. Some lesbians choose to list themselves on as many sites as possible, while others choose to stick to only one or two...it is really your choice.
   
   Some of the more popular lesbian dating sites are: Lesbiansanddating.com, Match.com , Gay.com, and Chemistry.com, those should get you started.
   
   
2. Photos: Having at least 1 recent photo (preferably more) on your ad is essential to getting a good response, especially since it is usually the first thing people see when browsing through an online personal website.


3. Headline: Along with a photo, you will need to come up with an interesting or eye-catching headline. Go ahead and be creative, but try to avoid clichés, no matter how much you are lacking in inspiration. Sometimes the best headline can be a question, something that invokes a response or involves the reader just enough to want to read more about you.


4. Be honest: Although it isn’t necessary to mention every one of your flaws, be honest when writing your personal ad. If you mention you are looking for someone who is honest, and then lie about your weight, education, profession, etc., your first dates aren't going to go very well.


5. Focus on the positive: Write about the qualities you are looking for in a relationship or the characteristics you value in others. There is no need to mention all of the things you don't want, that can be a turn-off.
   


6. Be Yourself: Try to write your ad as if you were having a normal conversation. If you can write the way you speak, others will get a better sense of your personality. Even a humorous personal story can give the reader more insight into your life.


7. Be creative: Many people write about how much they like walks on the beach, candlelight dinners or cuddling on the couch. Try to be a little more unique, talk about something different. Maybe you just returned from a scuba diving trip in Australia, or perhaps you speak a second language. These are things that will make you stand out from everyone else.


8. Be Clear: Are you looking for a relationship or are you just looking to date? Are you okay with dating someone who has kids? Try to be specific about what you are looking for, it will help to eliminate potential disasters later.


9. Check for Errors: Check your ad for spelling and grammatical errors, even if it means typing your ad out in a Word document first, so that you can run the spell check.
   


10. Update your ad: Keep your personal ad up-to-date. If you change your hairstyle, post a new photo. If your headline mentions water skiing and it is December, you may want to change that as well. And when you do met someone special, go ahead and take you ad off the site, just so that other single lesbians aren't contacting you hoping that you're still available.
    
    

And one last bit of advice: Be Cautious!!! Be sure to keep a certain level of anonymity when you first meet someone on the Internet. Never offer your personal information (phone number, address, or e-mail) to anyone right away. That way you have a layer of protection while getting to know each other, and it gives you time to judge whether you would be comfortable speaking on the phone or meeting in person.

Most lesbian dating sites are free to join, so what are you waiting for???

Free Internet Dating Site

I can’t even start to tell you how many of my single friends say to me that the only reason they haven’t tried “internet dating," is because they think it costs too much. Well guess what, no more excuses. I just heard about this new Free dating site that is in Beta phase and set to launch on April 2nd, 2008.

Without costing you a dime, Meeta.com, will provide all the same basic features that sites like Match.com and Yahoo Personals offer, but with extra features such as creating and joining interest groups and event invite options. And yes, they are lesbian friendly.

So no more excuses! Go out there and take advantage of this free dating site, you never know, you may find just what you were looking for.