The prominent online 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: Warm 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 kiss, hidden amid the clothes.
Throughout the advertisement, “Lost in Love” by Toodlum Barker & Emil Lomax sets a romantic tone in the background. The commercial wraps up with eHarmony’s slogan, “Get Who Gets You.”
The group, in an online petition, says the ad is an attempt to “brainwash” both children and adults.
Such representation goes against biblical teachings, One Million Moms says, citing Romans 1:26-27 from the Bible. The group is urging eHarmony to withdraw the advertisement, saying it pushes a “liberal LGBTQ agenda” during prime family viewing hours.
This controversy is not eHarmony’s first encounter with issues surrounding sexual orientation.
In 2007, the company was sued for not offering services to gays, lesbians and bisexuals. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Linda Carlson, accused eHarmony of discrimination based on sexual orientation. Carlson, denied access to the dating service due to her sexual orientation, alleged discrimination in eHarmony’s policies.
The company, founded in 2000 by Evangelical Christian Dr. Neil Clark Warren, had strong ties with the religious conservative group Focus on the Family at the time. Warren, CEO of eHarmony, has publicly addressed the impact of the same-sex marriage debate on his company.
In an interview with Yahoo! Finance, Warren, a self-described “passionate follower of Jesus,” expressed his exhaustion with the controversy and its detrimental effects on eHarmony. He recounted the backlash from the Christian community following the launch of Compatible Partners, a service catering to same-sex couples, as part of a settlement in a 2008 New Jersey discrimination case.
Warren’s efforts to reconcile his company’s services with broader societal changes have been evident. A 2005 USA Today article highlighted his attempts to distance eHarmony from its Evangelical roots, particularly its association with Focus on the Family. Warren’s strategy aimed to make eHarmony more inclusive, catering to a diverse audience beyond its initial Christian-oriented user base.
eHarmony is an online dating website that uses patented algorithms to match singles via 29 compatibility dimensions.
When visiting other online dating websites for single Christians, such as ChristianMingle.com and Christiansingles.com, only heterosexual pairing options are offered.
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