Some of Google’s LGBTQ+ employees have petitioned the San Francisco Pride board of directors to kick the search engine giant out of the SF Pride parade slated for this weekend.
The Google employees posted an open letter this morning saying they’ve spent countless hours trying to get Google to improve policies and practices regarding the treatment of LGBTQ+ persons, but the company has done nothing. Even though they might get in trouble for writing the letter, nearly 100 employees signed it, urging the parade to reject Google’s failure to act.
San Francisco’s Pride parade is one of the cities biggest events of the year. Many Silicon Valley companies have a presence at the parade. Apple, Facebook, Salesforce, Google, Uber, AirBnB and T-Mobile are all listed as sponsors or associates of the event.
Apple CEO Tim Cook usually marches with Apple employees at the parade every year. The event is usually a great opportunity for companies to unite with LGBTQ+ employees. However, Google’s employees want it banned from future SF Pride celebrations.
Google’s SF Pride Fiasco
“We are told to wait. For a large company, perhaps waiting is prudent, but for those whose very right to exist is threatened, we say there is no time to waste, and we have waited too long, already. We are no longer content to wait,” the letter says. “We receive apologies that we may be upset about the policies and practices to which we object, even as we are told that leadership stands by those policies. We are told to wait quietly, while executives state this position in interviews with the press.”
The petition asks that Google be dropped as a sponsor for the parade and not be allowed to have an official presence at the event. If that doesn’t happen, they want the company banned from sponsoring future pride celebrations. Signers of the petition say they tried to work out a compromise with Google where they could protests Google’s policies at the parade, but were denied.
“We have considered the possibility that our employer will punish us for signing this letter, or that supporters of these very hatemongers will attack us personally, online or otherwise, simply for speaking out against them. Despite these risks, we are compelled to speak.”
Hopefully, Google is listening.
