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06/14/08-06/16/08

Chemistry.com Commemorates California Marriage Equality

Starting Monday, June 16, the day before same-sex marriages can officially begin throughout the entire state of California, the online dating community Chemistry.com will offer a free seven-day membership to anyone living in California, according to a press release from the company.

The website, whose mantra is “come as you are,” is inviting LGBT Californians (and their straight allies) to meet someone special on Chemistry.com. “This is a fantastic moment for California,” a company representative said in the release, “and we hope we can start some new relationships in that state.”

Chemistry.com, one of only a handful of websites that cater to both the LGBT and straight communities (roughly 10% of their online community is LGBT), got a helping hand in constructing its compatibility quiz from anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher. Fisher developed the quiz using patterns of romantic attraction based on chemical levels in the brain.

Fisher said in the release, “Approximately 50% of our personality is biologically based.” Her quiz categorizes each person based on their answers to 56 questions as an explorer, a builder, a director, or a negotiator. Fisher says that she herself is “an explorer first, and a negotiator second.”

Recently, Fisher’s research has focused on why people fall in love with one person rather than another. While much is unknown about the rules of attraction, Fisher can speculate. “Maybe, to some extent, it’s chemistry,” she says. “Maybe you’re pulled genetically to that person.”

As far as same-sex relationships, Fisher says they’re no different than straight ones. “Who you love is one little aspect of the brain, but how you feel when you love is the same in every human being -- it’s the same brain system. It’s not going to vary on the basis of sexual orientation.”

Approximately 6.6 million people worldwide have taken Dr. Fisher’s compatibility quiz. (The Advocate)

Keywords:  california marriage  marriage 
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