GLBT activists are calling foul to a hidden Google Doodle celebrating June pride month.
Google doodles have for years celebrated a myriad of different events, from Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday to Braille. This June for pride month Google tipped its hat to the rainbow, but instead of placing the doodle on the homepage as is standard practice, it is only viewable if the user searches a “gay” term. Words like “gay,” “transgender,” “queer,” “lgbt,” and related terms bring out the rainbow. Terms of any complexity, like “gay rights,” show no doodle.
“During the month of June, Google is celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride,” said Google in an e-mail. “For some Pride-related search queries, we are showing a rainbow at the end of the search bar.”
Critics say it is a way to shield anti-gay searchers from seeing the logo.
“Try even the slightest modifications to those terms — “transgender pride,” “lesbian empowerment” — and the rainbow disappears as though it was never there,” wrote Nicholas Jackson, an out gay man, in The Atlantic. “This should keep the six-color rainbow, a symbol universally associated with gay pride ever since San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker created it 33 years ago, from appearing on the pages of those who are still opposed to gay rights.”
Doodles started in 1998 and have featured over 300 designs in the U.S. alone. Popular ones include a playable version of Pac-Man and one made of interactive bouncing balls. This is the first time a doodle has acknowledged Pride month.
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