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Google’s International ‘Legalize Love’ Campaign Isn’t About Gay Marriage

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“Legalize Love,” Google’s new international campaign, is not about legalizing same-sex marriage around the world — as exciting and wonderful as it sounds. Nevertheless, Legalize Love is an ambitious campaign designed to secure safety for LGBT people in countries where it’s illegal to be LGBT.

Over the weekend a few news sites incorrectly reported that Google was launching a new campaign to secure same-sex marriage around the world. The announcement, first and incorrectly reported at Dot 429, was mysterious because it wasn’t announced by Google at all.

(The New Civil Rights Movement didn’t report on the news until it could be properly confirmed. You would think that international communications and advertising giant Google would know how to communicate and advertise a campaign that was designed to change something around the world as controversial as same-sex marriage, wouldn’t you? Which is why we waited.)

Sunday afternoon, Matt DeLong at the Washington Post got the scoop, reporting that “the tech giant says its new ‘Legalize Love’ campaign isn’t about gay marriage at all, but rather supporting workers in countries that criminalize homosexuality.”

“‘Legalize 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,” said a Google spokesperson in a statement.

The internationally focused campaign will launch Monday at an LGBT conference in London. Ernst & Young and Citigroup have signed on as partners, the spokesperson said.

CNN reports that Legalize Love “will focus on countries such as Singapore, where certain homosexual activities are illegal, and Poland, which has no legal recognition of same-sex couples.”

And Google makes the program crystal clear. On the Google website, the company that had revenues of $38 billion last year, says that “Legalise Love is our call to decriminalise homosexuality and eliminate homophobia around the world.”

(Note the spelling of “Legalise.” Google is introducing the campaign at the Global LGBT Workplace Summit in London, where they spell “legalize” “legalise.”)

Noting on their corporate diversity portal that “Google believes that LGBT rights are human rights,” Google says they “are partnering with organisations around the world to decriminalize homosexuality and eliminate homophobia.” Google added they are “proud to be recognised as a leader in LGBT inclusion efforts,” and recognized “there is still a long way to go to achieve full equality.”

At Google, we encourage people to bring their whole selves to work. In all of our 60 offices around the world, we are committed to cultivating a work environment where Googlers can be themselves and thrive. We also want our employees to have the same inclusive experience outside of the office, as they do at work, and for LGBT communities to be safe and to be accepted wherever they are.

Dot 429 did get part of the story correct, quoting Google executive Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe at the Global LGBT Workplace Summit in London. “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.” Palmer-Edgecumbe added, “It is obviously a very ambitious piece of work.”

CNET’s Chris Matyszczyk, which also incorrectly reported the marriage angle, rightly notes:

Its first governmental targets are Singapore and Poland, two countries with slightly different approaches to life.

Having lived in both Singapore and Poland, I feel sure that Google’s task in each country will not be easy but perhaps for different reasons.

In Poland, the Catholic church has considerable influence in politics. The fact that the church’s perception and reality are somewhat in conflict belies the fact that it plays a deep emotional role in the country.

In Singapore, on the other hand, Google’s approach may be more pragmatic, appealing to the highly intelligent, rational (and very well-paid) minds that run that country.

Google wants this campaign to be active in every country in which it has an office. However, it is placing the greatest heat initially on those places that actually have anti-gay legislation.

What’s tragic is that in some of those countries, such legislation is rumored to have been enacted by politicians who are themselves gay but are so fearful of being outed that they hide behind the creation of such laws.

Google’s idea is to mobilize other companies in order to put collective pressure on governments in the countries in which they operate.

Indeed, Ernst and Young’s Harry Gaskell was beautifully blunt at the Summit about the power corporations can bring: “If you are trying to change something — governments can exert diplomatic power, NGOs can martial facts and arguments — but corporations martial economic power. That is something even the most passive of countries will listen to.”

Money is power, and power can change things.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if several large corporations’ CEOs whispered over cocktails with members of government and explained that they would move their offices out of the country unless the government legalized gay marriage?

Indeed.

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White House Defends Trump’s Right to Share His ‘Opinions’ Iran Has US Missiles

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March 10, 2026

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended what she claimed is President Donald Trump‘s right to share his opinion that Iran has U.S. Tomahawk missiles, a major weapon currently only in the possession of the United States, Australia, and the U.K.

On Monday, President Trump said Iran had U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles when asked if the United States would accept responsibility for the killing of at least 165 people at an Iranian girls’ school.

“Whether it’s Iran or somebody else … a Tomahawk is very generic,” Trump said, Newsweek reported. He also claimed that the missile is “sold and used by other countries” and that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.”

Newsweek noted that when pressed on why he appeared to be the only one making that claim, Trump said, “Because I just don’t know enough about it.”

He added that he was “willing to live with” the findings of any official investigation.

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“There has never been an indication that Iran has any Tomahawks,” CNN reported, “which are made by US defense manufacturer Raytheon for the US military, subject to strict export controls and not the ‘generic’ product Trump claimed Monday.”

On Tuesday, Leavitt chastised a reporter who asked about the president’s apparently erroneous claim.

“The president has a right to share his opinions with the American public,” she said, “but he has said he’ll accept the conclusion of that investigation, and, frankly, we’re not going to be harassed by the New York Times, who’s been putting out a lot of articles on this, making claims that have just not been verified by the Department of War to quickly wrap up this investigation, because the New York Times is calling on us to do so.”

The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, a retired U.S. Naval War College professor, mockingly responded, “Stop pointing out that the president has no idea what he’s talking about.”

READ MORE: ‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

 

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Democrats Warn Trump on Path to Put US Troops on the Ground

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March 10, 2026

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President Donald Trump‘s claim that his war against Iran may soon be coming to an end is being rejected by Senate Democrats, who warn that the administration may be on a path to putting boots on the ground in a “forever war.”

After attending a bipartisan briefing, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who sits on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters, “I emerged from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate.”

“We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground, in Iran,” he said, warning about “potentially huge consequences to American lives.”

U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) also expressed grave doubts.

READ MORE: ‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

“What I heard is not just concerning, it is disturbing,” said Senator Rosen, who also serves on the Armed Services Committee, as CNBC reported. “I’m not sure what the endgame is or what their plans are.”

She said that if President Trump “does want to put us in a forever war — which it seems like he does — he needs to come out and let us be able to have that discussion.”

CNBC reported that the “concerns from Democrats who attended a bipartisan classified briefing with military brass on Tuesday stand in stark contrast with the president, who on Monday suggested the U.S. may be nearing the completion of its operation. Trump’s statements sent slumping markets soaring and cratered oil prices that had skyrocketed in recent days.”

Democrats are warning that there is no end in sight, CNBC noted, and reported that the “war dragging on could also see markets whip back and oil costs continue to soar, especially as the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly 20% of the world’s oil remains largely impassible.”

After the Senate briefing, CBS News reported that “U.S. intelligence assets have begun to see indications Iran is taking steps to deploy mines in Strait of Hormuz shipping lane.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

 

 

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‘Trains My Hands for War’: Hegseth’s ‘Militant’ Bible Remarks Draw Backlash

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March 10, 2026

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoted the Bible — specifically the Old Testament — on Tuesday during remarks on the progress of the war against Iran, leaving some to express concerns about Christian nationalism and his potentially executing a holy or religious war.

Noting that he had just returned from Dover Air Force Base to accept the dignified transfer of another service member killed in the Iran war, Hegseth said, “I’ll close with Scripture, drawing strength from Psalm 144.”

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,” he said. “He is my loving God and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge. May the Lord grant unyielding strength and refuge to our warriors. Unbreakable protection to them in our homeland. And total victory over those who seek to harm them. Amen.”

Critics slammed his introduction of the religious text.

At The New Republic, Malcolm Ferguson wrote: “The Christian nationalist undertones of this war are getting even more obvious.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“Listening to Hegseth read Psalm 144 feels like an ominous justification for further aggression rather than a comforting message,” Ferguson said.

“While it’s a lovely verse traditionally attributed to King David, it does not accurately portray the reality of the situation whatsoever,” he wrote. “The United States is the Goliath of this story, along with Israel. The countries’ joint attacks of aggression have killed over 1,200 Iranians, many of them young schoolgirls. Iranian fuel depots were hit so hard that oil rained from the sky in Tehran on Sunday. Seven American service members have died because a president who promised peace sent them to war for money and regime change, not liberation.”

Professor of public policy Josh Cowen responded to Secretary Hegseth’s reading of scripture: “He could have chosen Jesus’s words ‘Blessed are they who mourn’ or if he was really craving a psalm, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.'”

“Instead he’s sporting militant quotes not to assuage grief but to justify his actions that caused it,” Cowen said.

Dutch journalist Michael van der Galien, according to a translation on X, called it “concerning that Pete Hegseth uses a passage from the Old Testament to suggest that God would bless a specific war between America, Israel, and Iran.”

“From a Catholic perspective, war is always a tragedy and only justified under strict conditions of just war theory, such as self-defense and the protection of innocents, not as a divine mandate.”

Professor Massimo Faggioli, a Church historian, according to a translation on X, wrote of Hegseth’s Scripture quoting, “they’ll do absolutely anything to make it look like a religious war.”

READ MORE: Cracks Widen as Trump Presses GOP on Hardline Voter ID Plan

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