June 18, 2007 | Funny Bits

No online love lost

In its current ad campaign, online matchmaker chemistry.com -- a spin-off site of match.com -- is challenging their biggest competitor, eHarmony. Chemistry.com's TV commercials and magazine ads feature young people wondering why their attempts to join eHarmony were rejected.

The ads note that eHarmony has rejected more than 1 million people who are "looking for love," including anyone seeking a same-sex relationship. 

"We're a very accepting, nonjudgmental service," said Mandy Ginsberg, Chemistry.com's general manager. Of course, the chance to spin this into extra publicity isn't so bad, either.

eHarmony is crying foul. "The research that eHarmony has developed, through years of research, to match couples has been based on traits and personality patterns of successful heterosexual marriages. Nothing precludes us from providing same-sex matching in the future. It's just not a service we offer now based upon the research we have conducted."

However, eHarmony's founder, Dr. Neil Clark Warren, has close ties with the homophobic Focus on the Family. They actually published three of his self-help books.

So, without eHarmony, how are gay men supposed to meet? Guess we'll just have to rely on one of the dozens of other hook-up sites out there...

• They met online, but definitely didn't click [statesman.com]