French extramarital dating site Gleeden has only one motto: it won’t give away loyalty cards.
And now a Paris court has ruled, on Thursday, that the website, targeted to women, has the right to promote its services, despite complaints from the French Catholic Families Association citing France’s anti-adultery law.
Gleeden (a portmanteau of “Glee” and “Eden”), the self-described ” first extra-marital dating website for married and unfaithful people,” specifically targets those willing to cheat on their husbands.
It has been under attack by the Catholic association since 2015 after it started advertising with provocative slogans, allegedly promoting adultery in violation of the French civil code, which stipulates mutual respect, “fidelity, help and assistance” between spouses.
“And what if this year you cheated on your lover with your husband?”, “Being faithful to two men means you are twice as faithful”, “Contrary to anti-depressants a lover won’t cost the social security system anything” read some of Gleeden’s adverts placed around bus stops and Metro stations.
Many of these ads have been banned by riled-up mayors, some of whom signed an open letter to Gleeden’s publisher Black Devine, saying “fidelity is not for sale.”
“Taste adultery and try a discreet relationship with your lover” says the site’s web page exemplifying the type of subversive messaging that threw traditionalists into a hissy fit.
“We even found lists giving tips on how to cheat on your partner without being found out,” the association’s lawyer Henri de Beauregard said.
Although the French are famously relaxed when it comes to marital fidelity (adultery has been decriminalized in France since 1975) the Catholic association still claims the adverts were “publicly promoting cheating.”
The Paris court rejected the complaint, however, ruling that there are instances where adultery does not constitute sufficient grounds for divorce, such as when couples willingly choose to engage in a libertine lifestyle or when the behavior of one of the spouses justifies cheating from the other.
“It is a victory for rights, for freedom of expression and for secularism over these bigots” said Caroline Mécary, the lawyer for Black Divine.
“The court was not duped” she added “We were faced with an association that has tried to enforce a certain vision of the family, except that this vision was theirs only and they cannot impose it on everyone.”
The Catholic association, which was ordered to reimburse €2,000 in court fees to Black Divine, has vowed to appeal the decision.
According to the Telegraph, there are some 300 cheating websites in France and conservative estimates suggest that around a third of married couples have strayed once.
Gleeden, meanwhile, continues to prides itself, touting the site as a “divorce alternative.”
