Gawker: valleywag, gay marriage

Why did Californians ban gay marriage?

Paul Boutin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:20:00 EST

I love Dave Winer's blog. He's even crazier than me, but he's pathologically unable to lie. Winer's latest post admits something most Californians would deny: The first time he learned a friend was married to another guy instead of a gal, he blurted out, "I find this shocking and it makes me a bit uncomfortable." He got over it, but he remembers that feeling. Dave, don't ever change. Remember when you found out I was working for Denton? That was hilarious. (Photo by tobiashm)

Misplaced Prop 8 ads sparking Google boycott

Owen Thomas — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST

As the election approaches, more bloggers are noticing ads from backers of Proposition 8, the gay-marriage ban appearing on Californians' ballots, courtesy of Google. The search engine's algorithm is mindlessly matching them to phrases like "gay marriage," regardless of whether the blog in question is for or against. Scott Beale, who blogs about Internet culture at Laughing Squid, has blocked the yes-on-8 ads, and, for good measure, taken Google's ads off his site altogether until after the election. He's not alone; one fashion website adminitrator tells Valleywag she's taken similar measures.

I haven't heard of any cases of the opposite happening, but I wouldn't be shocked if some socially conservative bloggers were similarly offended by no-on-8 ads placed on their blog by Google. Which returns me to my original question about these ads: If Google's algorithms are so good at placing ads, why aren't they able to gather whether a blog's audience generally supports or opposes gay marriage, and target ads where they'll do the most good?

(Screenshot by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid)

Valley homophobes still drafting Yes on Prop 8 response ad

Paul Boutin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:40:00 EDT

BoomTown reporter Kara Swisher rappelled from a skylight at Jerry Yang's secret hideout to score this draft copy of an ad, in which a bunch of tech bigwigs come out in favor of gay marriage — or at least in opposition to Proposition 8, a California state ballot initiative which would ban it. No Valley company in its right mind would be seen opposing gay marriage, so why bother?

Right: Because it's an awesome branding opportunity. The draft is a self-parody of corner office drama, full of Honorary Co-Chairs, Leaders, and Former CEOs. But the real story is: Who's missing? Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt are here, but not Larry Page. Twitter's Ev Williams is here, but not Digg's Kevin Rose. Federated Media: Present. TechCrunch: Absent. Mark Zuckerberg is not here, but Sheryl Sandberg pulled a John Hancock: She's right up top, where Owen can't miss her. Oh, look, she's trying to make nice! She's going to be sorry.

Google founder comes out for gay marriage

Owen Thomas — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT

Google cofounder Sergey Brin has announced that the company is officially opposing Proposition 8, a California ballot proposition that would make same-sex marriages illegal. The reason? Gayglers: "It is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8." But Sergey, you still haven't spoken out for the robots. [Official Google Blog]

California gay-marriage ruling could be boon for queer-friendly brands like Apple

Owen Thomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:20:00 EDT

California's Supreme Court has overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage. While others will doubtless take this opportunity to argue about whether to call it marriage or not, I'm betting corporate America will just cash in on another wave of gay weddings. A recent study commissioned by PlanetOut found that Apple, Absolut, Bravo, and Levi's are the most gay-friendly brands (PDF). His-and-his MacBook Airs, anyone?