CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Google's push for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships in countries like Poland has drawn the ire of critics, who suggest the company should address basic human rights violations elsewhere.<\/p>\n\t\u201cI am afraid that Google can\u2019t distinguish between discrimination, tolerance and promotion,\u201d Fr. Maciej Zieba, the director of Krakow\u2019s Tertio Millennio Institute, told CNA July 17.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn my opinion, it would be much better if Google with the same zeal will concentrate on violations of human rights in many countries of Asia and Africa where elementary human rights are violated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tOn July 7 in London, Google executive Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe told the Global LGBT Workplace Summit that Google\u2019s Legalize Love Campaign will develop initiatives around the world as part of \u201ca very ambitious piece of work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do in the office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tThe campaign will focus on countries like Poland, which does not recognize homosexual couples, and Singapore, which criminalizes homosexual acts.<\/p>\n
\tA July 8 cache of the company\u2019s diversity home page reads \u201cGoogle believes that LGBT rights are human rights. We are partnering with organizations around the world to decriminalize homosexuality and eliminate homophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe internet giant, however, has since modified how it is presenting the campaign. The company's Warsaw office recently hosted politician and homosexual activist Krystian Legierski for \u201can office-wide talk and discussion lunch on the importance of civil partnership laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe page now has language that echoes Palmer-Edgecumbe\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
\tFr. Zieba was struck by Google\u2019s initial use of the language of belief. The promotion of belief, he said, will be \u201ca kind of \u2018missionary\u2019 work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBut this form of missionary work in the twenty-first century looks anachronistic and to run it from abroad is a symptom of bad taste,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\tThe priest cited discrimination against women, religious persecution, lack of freedom of speech and persecution of political opposition in other countries as more important causes.<\/p>\n
\tHe also rejected the contention that Polish Catholics are bigoted.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cCatholics ought to be against any form of intolerance or discrimination and overwhelming majority of Polish society share this view,\u201d he said, citing \u201crepresentatives of sexual minorities\u201d in the national parliament and in media.<\/p>\n
\tPolish-American Catholic commentator George Weigel also criticized Google\u2019s campaign, saying it means \u201cnothing good\u201d for the defense of marriage and public morality.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI don't see why it's any of Google's business how Poland defines marriage, which is defined by nature, not by Internet providers (or governments, for that matter),\u201d he told CNA\/EWTN News in a July 14 e-mail.<\/p>\n
\tHe said gay activism in Poland has been \u201cthe same as elsewhere,\u201d meaning \u201ca tiny minority has successfully sold the false notion that homosexuality is the equivalent of race for purposes of civil rights and human rights law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWeigel said that Catholics in Poland and the U.S. should write companies that support homosexual political agendas and express \u201ctheir opposition to this propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe Google initiative cites the company\u2019s work in \u201cPride celebrations\u201d in U.S. cities and Sao Paolo, Tel Aviv and Warsaw. Its partners include the Human Rights Campaign, the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist Association, and Stonewall.<\/p>\n
\tGuest speakers at the Google Legalize Love Conference included Peter Tatchell, a U.K. activist with a history of anti-Catholic and anti-Christian action. In April 1998 he and other activists disrupted the Archbishop of Canterbury\u2019s Easter Sermon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tIn 2004, he and other activists, using abusive language towards churchgoers and clergy, blocked the entrance to Westminster Cathedral and prevented Catholics from entering Palm Sunday Mass.<\/p>\n
\tHe has opposed religious freedom protections for religious agencies, including Christian adoption agencies that wanted to place children only with married couples. The lack of these protections caused the closure of many Catholic adoption agencies in England.<\/p>\n
\tTatchell also threatened to make a citizen\u2019s arrest of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the United Kingdom in 2010.<\/p>\n
\tA Google statement said that the campaign aims to \u201cpromote safer conditions for gay and lesbian people inside and outside the office in countries with anti-gay laws on the books,\u201d CNN reports.<\/p>\n
\tCNA sought comment from Google but did not receive a response by deadline.<\/p>\n
\n
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Krakow, Poland, Jul 19, 2012 \/ 02:04 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Google's push for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships in countries like Poland has drawn the ire of critics, who suggest the company should address basic human rights violations …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\n
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