Google launched a new campaign called “Legalize Love” on Saturday. Geared towards marriage equality and equal rights for LBGT individuals in all countries,. the search engine giant’s message is clear – Google will not put their employees at risk in locations where simply who they are could result in crimes against them.
Google has stated before that it wants to further gay rights across the world; back in 2008, a blog post written by co-founder Sergey Brin was published that denounced California’s Prop. 8, the state constitutional amendment that took away the right of same-sex couples to marry after years of fighting and a hard won victory turned to ash in Google’s headquarters state.
Now the massive tech leader is using its pull to advance marriage rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in locations around the world where it has offices – specifically Poland and Singapore to start.
dot429 reports that Google exec Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe introduced the campaign at the Global LGBT Workplace Summit in London:
“We want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do in the office,” Palmer-Edgecumbe said. “It is obviously a very ambitious piece of work.”
Palmer-Edgecumbe clarified that the push in Singapore is the first step because the country is pushing to be a global financial leader. Legalize Love will focus primarily on countries with homophobic laws and cultures, and intends to build support with grass-roots campaigning and local companies. A statement from Google reads:
“‘Legalize Love’ is a campaign to promote safer conditions for gay and lesbian people inside and outside the office in countries with anti-gay laws on the books.”
Last month, during international Gay Pride celebrations, the Google search tool honored LGBT rights with an “Easter Egg” that appeared when anyone Googled terms like Gay Pride, LGBT, gay, lesbian, NYC Gay Pride and SF Gay Pride.
Kudos to Google for using their powers for good. Here’s hoping they can actually effect change in other countries, without forgetting to keep on fighting bigotry and supporting equality in their own.
Tags: gay rights, Google, legalize love, pride
