In 2013, two gay men filed lawsuits against Spark Networks Inc., a company that owns multiple dating sites, including LDSSingles.com, ChristianMingle.com, and JDate.com. The lawsuit stated that the niche dating sites were violating California’s anti-discrimination laws by requiring new users to specify if they were a man seeking a woman or a woman seeking a man.
The lawsuit was recently settled and judge-approved changes will be made over the next two years to ensure those in the LGBQT community have a more tailored experienced on many of the dating websites owned by Spark Networks Inc. Currently, the websites have been updated to simply ask new users if they are a woman or a man.
The resolution comes at a time when, as Deseret News reports, “anti-discrimination laws and religious liberty protections are repeatedly coming into conflict.” As part of the settlement, the company was not required to admit to any wrongdoing.