Google, which this month came under fire for its refusal to remove videos showing harassment of a gay man on YouTube, continues to deal with the fallout, which has extended to the San Francisco Pride Parade this weekend.
Some employees want to protest YouTube’s decision not to remove conservative pundit Steven Crowder’s YouTube channel over his comments about the sexuality and race of Carlos Maza, a journalist for Vox. The Googlers are being asked not to protest as part of the company’s float in this weekend’s Pride parade in San Francisco, a company spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.
The Google spokeswoman said that while employees are free to protest during the parade, the company is asking that they march with other contingents and not under Google’s name.
Former Googler Tyler Breisacher, who had requested that Pride dump Google’s float this year, said Tuesday that he thinks it’s too late for Google employees to join another parade contingent at this point. He said he hoped some of them would find a way to protest anyway.
“Pride is supposed to be a protest, as well as a celebration,” he said. “The Stonewall riots weren’t, you know, a day when a bunch of queer people decided to act in exactly the way their employers told them was allowed and acceptable.”
The Pride board has not returned a request for comment.
Google’s spokeswoman said the company has been participating in the Pride parade for at least 12 years. It is listed as one of the parade’s “associates,” under major and supporting sponsors.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki apologized earlier this month for the company’s decision not to remove Crowder but said that videos in which he repeatedly called Maza names related to his being gay and “Mexican” (his parents are Cuban immigrants) were not a violation of the company’s policies. The company later said it was removing Crowder’s ability to make money from ads on his channel.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai followed Wojcicki’s public apology with an internal email. In it, Pichai expressed regret that the controversy happened during Pride month, according to the Verge, which obtained a copy. Pichai also said YouTube is “taking a hard look” at its harassment policies.
“It’s funny that the company said it can’t remove hate speech because of free speech,” a Google employee who asked not to be named said Tuesday. “Then it turns around and says that its employees can’t protest.”
This isn’t the first time Google has faced controversy over its handling of LGBTQ-related issues. This spring, it removed a gay-conversion therapy app from its app store after lots of pressure — and months after Apple, Amazon and Microsoft did so.
Google has dealt with many employee protests in the past year or so. They include pushback against the company’s contract with the Pentagon on drones, Google’s plan to return a search engine to China, and its policies on forced arbitration. Last November, Google employees staged a worldwide walkout over the company’s reported multimillion-dollar payouts to executives accused of sexual harassment and misconduct.
