Alert: COMCAST joins with anti-gay eharmony.com

As I awoke this morning and began my daily regiment of emails, I was immensely disturbed to find that my ISP, COMCAST, has begun a new business relationship with the anti-gay, Fundamentalist-founded eharmony.com. I found the following "headline" on comcast.net this morning: Comcast.net dating with EHarmony.

Unfortunately, my attempts to contact Comcast corporate headquarters and about 15 different GLBT advocacy groups have produced few results. Even in Philadelphia, which is arguably the most pro-gay city in Pennsylvania, organizations have either been hesistant to do something about it. I'm not really sure why. Is it perhaps Comcast is the largest cable service provider in the United States?

Comcast has a strong diversity policy and initiative that include gays and lesbians, but by partnering with eharmony.com, they do themselves a disservice. I am keeping this diary short for future updates, but I urge you Kossacks and Comcast customers to contact Comcast corporate headquarters or customer service. Express your dismay that such a progressive organization would team up with eharmony.com. Inform them that it is not a wise business practice and tell them you do not want your customer dollars going to support an anti-gay service. Let them know that you would prefer they work with chemistry.com or match.com, for those services do not reject same-sex couples or endorse Fundamentalist values. Thanks for your help; updates to follow.

Comcast corporate headquarters (Philadelphia, PA): 215-665-1700
Comcast customer service: 1-800-COMCAST
Comcast corporate email: [e-mail]

•  Tip jar?

  Online dating is fine... but gay couples deserve to be included.

  by mph2005 on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:03:20 AM PDT

  •  What does that have to do with the company that

    provides them cable access? I happen to live in Philly, and happen to know several people who work at CC who are as gay as gay can be. CC does not discriminate against gays as far as I know. If you make the jump to accuse them, back it up before make such an outlandish connection. I owned a restaurant years ago. If a known bigot came into my place and ordered food, as long as he was civil in my restaurant, I served him. Business is business. Is this now jump all over CC because of the Telecom bill?

    by tazz on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:19:15 AM PDT

    •  With all due respect...

      I never said that Comcast was anti-gay. I said that as a pro-gay corporation, it is an unwise business practice to offer an online dating service that excludes same-sex couples. Please do not be so quick to form conclusions without fully comprehending the message and intent of my diary.

      by mph2005 on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:22:03 AM PDT

      •  So they should not do business with anyone

        unless they conform to their own standards. A lot of companies would go bankrupt if that were the norm.

        by tazz on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:25:02 AM PDT

        •  Need not stop business...

          I specifically told Comcast that I do not necessarily care whether or not they permit eharmony to advertise on comcast.net or Comcast cable systems; I do, however, have a problem with their own comcast.net dating service excluding same-sex couples.

          by mph2005 on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:26:51 AM PDT

    •  Agreed jump all over them for this..

      Comcast blocks some Internet traffic

      by debozero on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:31:53 AM PDT

•  Is this significant?

  eHarmony is what it is.  I ignore it because 1) I don't need it, and 2) It's inconsistent with my values.

  Is Comcast blocking its users' access to gay-friendly dating sites? If not, why is this significant?

  Are there gay-focused dating sites that exclude heteros?  I don't know much about this stuff, but I wouldn't be surprised if they existed.  In fact, I would be surprised if they didn't exist.

  by Ernest T Bass on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:32:19 AM PDT

  •  Corporate Responsibility

    Is it not the responsibility of ANY corporation to appropriately enforce its values? Is it not also the responsibility of a customer to ensure the company enforces its own values? Sure, I can make the decision to leave Comcast, but I want to make a concerted effort to change the policy before abandoning the company. Yes, of course there are bigger issues to worry about, but every issue should be addressed.

    by mph2005 on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:40:38 AM PDT

  •  Agreed

    Don't forget about Jdate.com (for Jewish singles), or seekingmillionaire.com (for women looking for rich men). It seems that there are many dating sites which could be considered to be discriminatory.

    Could someone explain to me why this has become as much of an issue as it has? No snark here, I just don't understand why understand why this issue is so offensive?

    by jay w on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:53:31 AM PDT

•  Switched to DirectTV last night

  Though, I must admit it's not political -- Comcast doesn't carry the Big Ten Network.

  Still, use it as part of your campaign.

  by philgoblue on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 08:49:46 AM PDT

•  Know any good dating sites? n/t

  I've always wondered why social networking sites like Friendster, Facebook, and Myspace can be quality sites with millions of users and still be free, yet to have a social dating site, they want an obscene 30 dollars a month for a crappy service that usually does not yield results.  There are so many costs these days between insurance, cell phones, internet, cable, etc.  I just don't understand.

  We need a candidate to support Socialized Net Dating.  Our Children should not be turned away by the costliness of it all.  And, I need a date.

  by Dopusopus on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 10:37:34 AM PDT

  •  Too bad

    Kos doesn't have a dating site!  Then we could
    be more likely to find non-koolaid drinkers
    to date/socialize with.

    by Debs2 on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 10:51:17 AM PDT

    •  Hehe. Exactly. n/t

      by Dopusopus on Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 10:59:56 AM PDT