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Gay News: Google's auto-complete feature excludes lesbians and bisexuals
By: Nigel Robinson
Google: a glitch?
According to Google, this auto-complete feature “excludes certain terms related to pornography, violence or hate speech”.
Google: a glitch?
Lesbians banned from Google Instant
Google’s new Instant feature predicts a user’s search results by predicting what he or she will type.
According to Google, this auto-complete feature “excludes certain terms related to pornography, violence or hate speech”.
This feature excludes words such as “lesbian” and “bisexual”, while allowing “gay”, “homosexual” and “dyke”.
The search terms can, however, be used in a normal Google search.
US-based lobby website Change.org notes that “lesbian” and “bisexual” are not pornography, violence or hate speech, and has launched a campaign to tell Google that the words are not offensive search terms.
“It seems discriminatory for Google to place lesbian and bisexual in the porn category,” the website says.
“They are valid identities and they should be accepted by Google as appropriate and allowable search terms.”
This seems likely to be a glitch in the Google Instant feature, as the company has a good record on gay rights, and has publicly opposed the ban on same-sex marriage in California.
