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Friday, June 24, 2011

Google Hides Gay Pride Rainbow

(CNN) -- Google creates "doodles" for all kinds of random occasions.

The search engine changed -- or doodled -- the logo on its home page in celebration of the painter Paul Cezanne's 172nd birthday; Robert Louis Stevenson's 160th birthday; the first day of school in Poland; and Pac-Man's 30th anniversary. All of these, with the exception of Poland, which appeared only in that country, were automatically visible to everyone who visited Google.com.

But for Gay Pride Month -- which, in case you didn't notice the parade in the city center, is happening now -- the company took a much less visible approach.

It's one that's stirred up criticism from the gay community.

There's never been an actual Google Doodle in honor of Gay Pride. Instead, during June, a little rainbow pops up next to Google's search bar only when users search for certain "pride-related" terms, including, "gay," "lesbian," "homosexuality," "LGBT," "marriage equality," "bisexual" and "transgender."

"During the month of June, Google is celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride," the company said in an e-mail. "For some Pride-related search queries, we are showing a rainbow at the end of the search bar."

So why hide this feature beneath specific searches?

A company spokeswoman did not provide specifics.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

noooo, they arent shoving it in our faces....

Anonymous said...

Boo Freakin' Hoo! Geez. I have no problem with the gay or lesbian community, but what month do we get to celebrate heterosexuality??? And what month do I get to celebrate being born white? I'm so sick of the way this society thinks. When do we get to start celebrating that we were all created equal under God?