Gay Christians will soon be able to find love on some of the most popular religious dating sites. Spark Networks Inc., owner of ChristianMingle.com and other religious dating sites, has agreed to allow gays and lesbians to use its services after the company was sued under discrimination claims. Two men, Aaron Werner and Richard Wright, filed a class-action lawsuit after they noticed that same-sex options were not available on some of the websites that Spark operates.

New users on Christian Mingle were previously required to specify if they were a man seeking a woman or a woman seeking a man. Because of this, the two men felt that they were barred from using the website. California’s anti-discrimination law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, states that business establishments must provide equal accommodations regardless of a person’s sexual orientation.

Christian Mingle has lost its suit and must include gays. Christian radio stations will soon be forced to play YMCA by the Village People.

— Mike S. Adams (@MikeSAdams) July 4, 2016

According to the conditions of the settlement, Spark will change their gateway homepages to allow users to just specify if they are a man or a woman. Spark also agreed to create a more comprehensive and tailored matching service for users seeking same sex relationships within the next two years. In addition, Spark will pay the men $9,000 each, along with $450,000 in legal fees to their respective attorneys.

The complaint names some of the other dating sites owned by Spark that the men claim also violate anti-discrimination law: LDSSingles.com, CatholicMingle.com, BlackSingles.com, and AdventistSinglesConnection.com. However, popular Jewish-dating site JDate.com was not included in the lawsuit.

“I am gratified that we were able to work with Spark to help ensure that people can fully participate in all the diverse market places that make our country so special, regardless of their sexual orientation,” one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Vineet Dubey, said in a statement in The Wall Street Journal.

Some people on Twitter expressed their anger, stating that this ruling is a violation of religious freedom.

Christian Mingle is legally forced to cater to gay partner matching despite violating religious beliefs. What happened to the 1st amendment?

— Pissed Off Parker (@LongJohn_30) July 1, 2016

@charliekirk11. The judge is flat wrong. These gay men do not deserve compensatory damages. This dating site is for straight Christians only

— Tinpocket (@echoco2002) July 3, 2016

Although there have been many road blocks put in the way of gay Americans, this ruling signals progress is being made.

Julia Bryant

Julia Bryant is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street from Howard County, Maryland. She is a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Economics. You can contact Julia at JBryant@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Gay Christian Singles Can Now Mingle on Dating Sites appeared first on Law Street.

On Friday, Old Navy tweeted out an ad featuring an interracial family to promote its Thank You Event.

Oh, happy day! Our #ThankYouEvent is finally here. Take 30% off your entire purchase: https://t.co/nGQ9Pji1pN pic.twitter.com/vq4mIczm6A

— Old Navy Official (@OldNavy) April 29, 2016

The ad quickly drew fire from racist trolls who discussed plans to boycott the franchise while criticizing the company for promoting “miscegenation.”

Miscegenation, for those of you scratching your head, is an archaic term defined as the marriage and/or procreation of people considered to be of different racial types.

Many of the racist tweets have since been deleted, however, Jezebel managed to acquire several screenshots before they could be taken down.

The twitter user @RousetheMasses tweeted, “Absolutely disgusting. What’s next? Gender neutral bathrooms? Pedophilia acceptance propaganda?! Never shopping here again.”

She was joined by the user @CulturalCombat who wrote, ” I will never step into an @OldNavy store again. This miscegenation junk is rammed down our throats from every direction.”

The user @marylovefreedom also accused the ad of having a hand in “white genocide,” a theory that alleges immigration, integration, interracial marriages, low fertility rates and abortion in predominantly white countries is a conspiracy to deliberately cause white people to go extinct (even though she mistakingly tagged the post #WhiteGeocide.)

Clearly Old Navy’s message struck a nerve. The retailer, which typically receives likes and retweets in the 1-100 range, earned a huge boost in impressions after publishing the post.

Despite the hate, the overwhelming majority of responders supported Old Navy’s decision to portray a mixed race family in its ads. Several interracial couples and families began thanking the company by sharing photos of themselves and tagging the posts with the hashtag #LoveWins.

Hey @OldNavy, my family and I thank you for the diversity in this ad! #LoveWins, no matter the color pic.twitter.com/TjgYUPMGu4

— KHARY PENEBAKER (@kharyp) May 1, 2016

.@kharyp @OldNavy Thank You Old Navy! Interracial families are beautiful and we appreciate the representation! pic.twitter.com/kVNuGHfAB9

— Noelle Devoe (@Noelle_CD) May 2, 2016

.@OldNavy Props on this ad! My family and I appreciate it. #RepresentationMatters pic.twitter.com/ZXQ8YbT0QS

— Austin Null (@thenivenulls) May 2, 2016

Thank you @OldNavy for finally representing us #thankyouevent #oldnavy pic.twitter.com/x1d1TAifOY

— Chris Blackburn (@photoblackburn) May 2, 2016

Thank you @OldNavy for featuring interracial families in your ads! #oldnavy #LoveWins pic.twitter.com/o7oMQErZPp

— Stacey Valley (@staceyvalley) May 2, 2016

Hey Old Navy, love your new ad! I don’t shop there regularly but will definitely be going this week! #lovewins pic.twitter.com/iDohUc7pmy

— Deirdre (@deirdreshavon) May 2, 2016

It’s surprising that this particular ad would drum up so much conflict, since Old Navy notably has consistently featured a diverse cast of models in its marketing.

Old Navy doesn’t seemed phased by the controversy though. Spokeswoman Debbie Felix said Monday, “We are a brand with a proud history of championing diversity and inclusion. At Old Navy, everyone is welcome.”

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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