One day ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Google has made a strong pro-LGBT statement with its latest homepage Google Doodle, which appears on every country's version of Google, including the Russian homepage.
"The practice of sport is a human right," reads the quote from the Olympic Charter underneath a rainbow-colored sports doodle. "Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." The rainbow flag, designed in San Francisco in 1978, has since been used to promote LGBT rights around the world.
See also: Gay Rights Activists See Insult and Opportunity in Sochi
Russia's practice of restricting the rights of gay citizens and banning anything it deems "homosexual propaganda," as well as President Vladimir Putin's discriminatory statements on the matter, have played a front-and-center role in the run-up to the Olympic Games.
Olympic brands have been slow to show their support for the gay community, but AT&T and American Apparel waded into the debate this week. "Russia’s law is harmful to LGBT individuals and families, and it’s harmful to a diverse society," AT&T, which is a sponsor of Team USA, wrote on its blog. American Apparel, which has no official sponsorship ties to the games, launched a line of merchandise based on the charter’s Principle 6, which states that "Sport does not discriminate on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise.”
None of the official sponsors of the games, though, including Coca-Cola, Visa, Samsung, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Omega, General Electric and Dow Chemical, have yet made any statements in favor of LGBT rights in Russia. The U.S.-based Human Rights Campaign has been putting pressure on them to speak out.
If Putin uses Google, though, he'll presumably get the message.
Each package gets larger with a mouse-over, and a click on it returns search results pertinent to a specific country or the particular items featured in a scene. This one is from December 24, 2010.
The Google Doodle team stars in an homage to the silent film era's greatest star's 122nd birthday, April 15, 2011.
This one's done in HTML5 and was published Sept. 7, 2010. To get the full effect, here's one you can interact with.
This Doodle commemorated John Lennon's 70th birthday in October 2010.
Debuting May 10, 2011, this Google Doodle marks dance choreographer Martha Graham's birthday.
Commemorated the birthday of the inventor of the Bunsen burner, German chemist Robert Bunsen on March 31, 2011.
The great inventor's birthday was honored on February 11, 2011.
Marking Independence Day 2010.
A real crowd pleaser was this playable Pac-Man game, which appeared on May 21. 2010. Here's a playable version.
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