E Harmony Now E Dissonant

Thousands of dating and personals sites, of every stripe, creed, affiliation, catering to every conceivable turn, fetish, lust and perversion. Not good enough for some, apparently.

Nope. Why ski the alps of Sodom, when Canaan's ski park is so . . . packed with powder?

Online dating service eHarmony has agreed to create a new Web site — "Compatible Partners" — for gay and lesbian users, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General announced.

Created as part of a settlement with Eric McKinley, a gay man from New Jersey, theWeb site will provide services for users seeking same-sex partners by March 31, New Jersey Division on Civil Rights Director J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo said.

eHarmony, which was founded by Dr. Neil Clark Warren in 2000, said the settlement was triggered by a Law Against Discrimination complaint filed by McKinley against the online service on March 14, 2005. As part of the agreement, eHarmony will pay McKinley $5,000 and will provide him a one-year complimentary membership.

Assuming the role of prognisticator for a moment, one can reasonably assume that any residual absoluteness of convictions will ultimately result in the business' demise, as the moral basis on which the site was predicated will hopefully trump any peanance-linked need to aid and abet the promulgation of such things. I feel for Mr. Warren, who has who-knows-how-many people under his employ--as he reels from a decision as rabidly perverse as what he's being forced to allow. But something tells me a few sleepless nights about this could change the business trajectory--especially after he writes a $5,000 check to a man that could have googled "gay" and found a million sites a million theological miles from Eharmony.com without ever having to hire a lawyer to do it.

Something also tells me that any attempt to make a silent and seamless transition into an "inclusive" site will simply drive away nearly all the primary clientele, simply making them bad at marketing the remaining sedimentary ruin already mastered by the other 99% of hookup sites, ultimately ruining them anyway. Shut it down and call it a day. Lot didn't turn over the angels in his house, and neither should Mr. Warren.