06
FEB
Google takes an extremely strong stance on Russia anti-homosexual laws by showing a "gay inspired" Olympic Google logo.
On the heels of a major story regarding the upcoming Sochi olympics, the top Olympic official said that he is open to appending the "Olympic charter" to add rules which will address sexual orientation discrimination. This of course comes due a very controversial Russian law to protect the youth which "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" in the presence of minors.
A lot of questions were raised on if (or when) gay rights were discussed in press conferences if athletes or spokespeople related to the Olympic events would be fined or thrown in jail if they discussed homosexuality. Whilst the aforementioned top official, Thomas Bach, did say that officials have told him "the law will not be enforced on athletes who speak about gay rights during press conferences", it still makes for interesting debate on whether Russia is, well, deserving of the privilege of hosting the games.
Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee
In response to the announcement, Google has changed their homepage logo on the US version of the website to an olympic logo mimicking the famous Gay Pride flag with a quote from the current Olympic Charter reading "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.". The logo itself links to a Google search for "Olympic Charter". Whilst this is what the current Olympic Charter reads, Thomas Bach said he'd like to add it specific clauses to prevent discrimination to homosexuals.
Google's "Gay Pride" Homepage, Feb 6th, 2014
On a personal note, I'm really impressed with Google's strong stance here (although, hey, they're Google and they're big enough to do what they want, am I right?). And it's also important to note that this is not the first time that Google has promoted gay rights. As early as 2008, Google added gay colors to the search results page for the search term "gay". This was likely in response to gay marriage finally becoming legalized in California (Google's home state).
Image courtesy of Search Engine Roundtable.
So what do you think about it? Is Google out of line? If you are against homosexuality, will you stop using Google? Will you throw away your Android?