Tuesday, March 28, 2006

America's creepiest doctor faces lawsuit

The Malcontent proudly nominated Dr. Neil Clark Warren, founder of eHarmony.com, as its "scariest man of the year" for 2005. So we shed no tears at the news that Warren is being sued by a man prohibited from using the site to find a date because he is not yet legally divorced.

John Claassen, a 36-year-old lawyer from Emeryville, filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court alleging eHarmony abridged his civil rights by refusing to match him up. He said the company, which has an "unmarried only" policy, broke state law by discriminating against him based on his marital status.

Claassen, who is seeking $12,000 in civil penalties, said Monday he expects his divorce to be official in about two months, but that he shouldn't have to wait until then to use eHarmony. It should be up to would-be dates to decide whether to pass him over because he is technically still married, he said.

eHarmony already prohibits gay coupling --- note to anyone who wants to make an issue out that, please don't ... do we really want to be a part of that club? --- due to its affiliation with Focus on the Family (James Dobson's organization). As much as I'd love to pile on, they have every right to do so. Same goes for not-yet-divorced people. There is no constitutional right to participate on a fundamentalist dating site.

Besides, who wants to make eHarmony any more ubiquitous than it already is? I can only stand so many sightings a day of Dr. Neil Clark Stepford, er, Warren.

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