Metadish, Fresh from NYC

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In a federal appeals court in San Francisco last week three judges ruled that a website (Roommates.com) could be held liable for users putting down preferences based on gender, race or sexual orientation.

Not that we give a crap about Roommates.com but we imagine this ruling may somehow eventually effect a real website like Craigslist which would totally suck.

Though their rationales varied, all three judges in the decision yesterday agreed that the site could be held liable for soliciting information from users through a series of menus about themselves and their preferred roommates and for posting and distributing profiles created from the menus. The choices on the menus included gender, sexual orientation and whether children were involved.

Because Roomate.com created the menus, the court ruled, it cannot claim immunity under the 1996 law, the Communications Decency Act.

But Judges Alex Kozinski and Sandra S. Ikuta ruled that postings from users in a part of their profile designated “additional comments” could not subject the site to liability because it was essentially uninvolved in creating them.

Judge Stephen Reinhardt dissented on that point, citing examples (“must be a black gay male”) and saying the entire site was “an integral part of one package.”

While the ruling was a shock to website classifieds across the nation it was a far bigger blow to black gay males looking for a room to rent. Haters.

Just perusing through the the NYC rooms and shares on Craigslist usually gives us hours of guilty pleasure. With such classic listings as…

$100 Special offer for open minded women… - all you need is to be a slim attractive girl who is OK with occasionally walking around or hanging out in her underwear (thong, bra, whatever)

$750 WANTED MALE ROOMMATE , BETWEEN 20 & 35 YEARS OLD - OK this one isn’t really “classic” but it’s pretty damn specific.

$350 Bunk beds, I call top! Great deal, great commute - Females Only - I call webcam!

I suppose I’ll have to rewrite my ad for a roommate in which I may have vaguely mentioned my preference for an attractive, rich, giving, nymphomaniac female with low self-esteem and hot, horny friends with similar characteristics.

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