On Saturday, Google launched their Legalize Love campaign, targeting countries like Singapore, where LGBT people still face imprisonment and harassment. The company has had to move LGBT employees before – despite them being the most qualified for a role – due to homophobia in certain countries.
“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,” said Google’s Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe.
Google have considerable political and financial weight to throw behind a campaign of this kind. They seem genuinely interested in human rights – they sponsor the Human Rights Campaign, which campaigns for LGBT rights, and have had annual score of 100% on the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index for the past four years. They have also had gay pride themed Google vans at several events across the world.
They could also be following the money. In the United States, LGBT market buying power is projected to exceed 700 billion, and this market segment is twice as likely to have an income over $250,000. Additionally, Google get an image boost for supporting a human rights issue. It may be a somewhat controversial one, but the benefits no doubt outweigh the risks.
Consequences
- Hopefully, more rights for LGBT people.
- Positive publicity for Google.
- Possible loss of revenue from ‘traditional’ and ‘homophobic’ market segments.
- Possible gain of revenue from LGBT people & supporters.
