Will Google Get Booted From San Francisco Pride Parade?

San Francisco Pride organizers may exclude Google from the city's parade over inaction regarding harassment of LGBTQ people on YouTube.

The problem of hate speech on YouTube has bedeviled the platform for years, but issues about bullying and harassment hit a fever pitch this week when the company refused to take action regarding vlogger Steven Crowder despite repeated targeting of Vox journalist Carlos Maza.

Crowder in multiple videos posted on his channel specifically attacked Maza as a "lispy sprite," "little queer," "Mr. gay Vox" and the "gay Latino V-neck," among other slurs. Maza said this has resulted in Crowder's audience personally harassing him offline.

This is the same video-sharing platform that temporarily took down a political ad with two men kissing. But then, it's also the same one that for more than a year has left up a video with an online chat featuring questions to hatemonger Richard Spencer about whether gays should be allowed in a future ethnostate, despite national media attention.

LGBTQ activists and even some Google employees attended a Pride meeting this week lobbying for the tech company to be left out of the annual celebration. They argued Google expresses outward support for the community with corporate sponsorships and other superficial actions, but won't intervene when its products and platforms get used consistently for homophobic ends.

"This feels like a classic example of 'rainbow-washing,'" said activist and former Google employee Tyler Bresaicher, according to Hoodline.

The Pride board in San Francisco has considered excluding major corporate sponsors from the event before but never done so. In 2015, Hoodline said, the board considered barring Facebook from the parade over a "real name" policy many trans activists consider a deadnaming requirement.