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| Google launches worldwide campaign to legalise gay marriage |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-07-08 17:54:33 |
| Fantastic initiative by Google. Anna Peirano details: "Google is launching a new campaign called 'Legalize Love' with the intention of inspiring countries to legalize marriage for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people around the world. The 'Legalize Love' campaign officially launches in Poland and Singapore on Saturday, July 7th. Google intends to eventually expand the initiative to every country where the company has an office, and will focus on places with homophobic cultures, where anti-gay laws exist." As proud as I am of living in the first country to legalise same-sex marriage, it's easy to forget we only did so in 2000. Also, it's about time the large technology companies of the world started using their power, reach, and money to do good. Hopefully, this initiative will transcend company boundaries, uniting them behind a common, noble goal. |
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| Err |
| By twitterfire on 2012-07-08 22:02:55 |
| Time to show Bing some love. :) |
 - Score: 2 |
| RE[5]: Explanation |
| By dimosd on 2012-07-08 22:12:28 |
|
> if I were to not post this story just because some people would get upset, I would not be able to see some of my friends eye-to-eye. So basically, it's about keeping your gay friends happy... I've met people who were gay, educated and more or less ok, and I've met other people (50yos in public toilets trying to pick up young boys; MDMA-crazed, nearly-psychotic bisexuals acting in very embarassing ways) who were most definetely simply perverts. Please don't be so self-righteous, your "goal" isn't as "noble" and self-evident as you would like it to be. I dare you not to censor this message... |
| - Score: 0 |
| RE[6]: Explanation |
| By Thom_Holwerda on 2012-07-08 22:19:47 |
|
> So basically, it's about keeping your gay friends happy... No, it's about a prominent technology company standing up for basic civil rights. When I saw this story, I immediately labelled it as posting-material - only to realise 10 seconds later that people who discriminate might be offended by it. And 0.000000000000001 seconds after that I realised that not posting something because I might offend people who discriminate is weak, pathetic, and gutless. This is a great, important, and much-needed initiative. The fact that a publicly traded company does so is all the more important. Hopefully, Apple and Microsoft - who have made smaller gestures to this effect as well - will join this effort and also fight for basic civil rights, whether some people want to deny their fellow citizens basic civil rights or no. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[3]: Comment by marcp |
| By JAlexoid on 2012-07-08 22:38:40 |
| As much as I dislike Microsoft, they do value their employees. And their positions and sponsorships are reflecting their support for their own loyal employees. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: The "old" new thing |
| By JAlexoid on 2012-07-08 22:40:52 |
| No they weren't. They just "valued freedom" far more. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[6]: Explanation |
| By JAlexoid on 2012-07-08 22:46:29 |
|
And I've "met" heterosexuals that are paedophiles, rapists and perverts. Do you have a point, beyond singling out gays? PS: The one's that are demanding equal rights are not the perverted ones. The perverted ones are too busy preaching in your local Catholic church on Sundays* *-To all righteous Catholics - Please excuse my extreme exaggeration. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE[7]: Explanation |
| By JAlexoid on 2012-07-08 22:48:06 |
|
> Microsoft - who have made smaller gestures to this effect as well You might have guessed that I'm not a Microsoft supporter, but you are wrong there. Microsoft does quite a lot with the LGBTQ organisations. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[7]: Explanation |
| By dimosd on 2012-07-08 23:01:15 |
|
I am an atheist, but you happen to bring up an interesting point: that a pro-gay attitude currently happens to mostly affect ex-protestant countries compared to countries with other religious/political belief systems. These countries try to enforce their current beliefs to other countries as "self-evident" (what's new?) Thanks for providing food for thought. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: A few thoughts |
| By JAlexoid on 2012-07-08 23:01:18 |
|
I agree on the position that it's the government's responsibility to register a union. What type of union it is and how it works, should not be the responsibility of the government. That way, Arabs that want to have many wives can have many wives, gay men can be in a union with another gay man, a straight man can be in a union with another straight man(why not?) and so on. (I use "man" as a human, not male) I mean, we already have corporations and each one of them is a legal person. Just extend something similar to people. However, that Google shouldn't be doing it is not a reasonable position. Otherwise they should be in China and collaborating with PRC on filtering the web. While Brin is at Google, there will be this side to Google. Edited 2012-07-08 23:02 UTC |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: A few thoughts |
| By Thom_Holwerda on 2012-07-08 23:10:23 |
|
> I agree on the position that it's the government's responsibility to register a union. What type of union it is and how it works, should not be the responsibility of the government. This is how it works in The Netherlands. We have legal marriage, and ceremonial marriage. The legal wedding is the only one that has legal meaning. It is performed by a government official, and has all the legal standing usually associated with marriage. Since the first article of our Constitution guarantees unconditional equality for all Dutch citizens, the legal marriage cannot exclude same-sex marriage. The ceremonial wedding, which can be performed by a priest, rabbi, or whatever, has zero legal status. It has no legal meaning whatsoever. A couple which only holds a ceremonial wedding is not married as far as the state is concerned. The end result is that religious couples usually do a quick legal wedding at city hall in the morning, only to hold a big ceremonial wedding at the church later that same day, with all the guests and egards. Couples who are not religious usually seek out a beautiful building or outdoor location, and 'rent' the government official, and turn the legal wedding into the big ordeal a wedding usually is. You can even do a quick legal wedding at city hall in the morning, and then a large non-religious ceremonial wedding at a beautiful location presided over by whomever. The gives freedom to everybody, and ensures the clear separation between church and state - as it should be. This is 2012, this is no time for theocracies anymore. |
| - Score: 5 |
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