“Don’t be evil” is the informal corporate motto of Google, and whether or not you believe Google follows that slogan, on Saturday, Google executive Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe announced an increase in the company’s activism in terms of gay rights issues. Palmer-Edgecumbe was speaking at the Global LGBT Workplace Summit in London, England.
Google’s new campaign is called “Legalize Love.” It will focus on countries such as Singapore, where certain homosexual activities are illegal, and Poland, which has no legal recognition of same-sex couples.
Palmer-Edgecumbe said, “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. It is obviously a very ambitious piece of work.”
He added, “Singapore wants to be a global financial center and world leader and we can push them on the fact that being a global center and a world leader means you have to treat all people the same, irrespective of their sexual orientation.”
Citigroup and Ernst & Young have already signed on as partners in the campaign.
Although the “Legalize Love” campaign sounds as though it will focus on same-sex marriage, a Google spokespersoncalled that inaccurate. Instead Google will focus on human rights and employment discrimination.
That said, Google has spoken out before on same-sex marriage issues, most notably in 2008 when it “came out” against California’s “Proposition 8” ban on same-sex marriage. That ban was eventually overturned in a federal court and appears headed to the Supreme Court.