Google Launches Worldwide 'Legalise Love' Campaign

Google yesterday reportedly launched a worldwide gay rights campaign, officially beginning in Poland and Singapore.

"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," dot429.com reports. "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."

A Google spokesman, Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe, tells the website, "We want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do in the office. It is obviously a very ambitious piece of work."

On the decision to launch the initial phase in a country like Singapore, Palmer-Edgecumbe says, "Singapore wants to be a global financial center and world leader and we can push them on the fact that being a global center and a world leader means you have to treat all people the same, irrespective of their sexual orientation."

At the end of the day, the "Legalize Love" campaign is also good for Google's business. "We operate in many countries and have a very globally mobile workforce. We have had a number of instances where we have been trying to hire people into countries where there are these issues and have been unable to put the best person into a job in that country," said Palmer-Edgecumbe.

As the Huffington Post notes, "Google has indicated its support of the issue before. In 2008, the company published a blog post opposing a California amendment that would ban same-sex marriage (the amendment passed)."

UPDATE: This post has been updated to reflect that Google's initiative is not aimed directly at gay marriage. A Google spokesman explains what the company is doing: "'Legalise Love' is a campaign to promote safer conditions for gay and lesbian people inside and outside the office in countries with anti-gay laws on the books."