Instead, for June, Google made a little rainbow, a symbol of gay pride, appear next to its search window whenever certain search terms were entered, including words such as "gay," "lesbian," "homosexuality," "LGBT," "marriage equality," "bisexual" and "transgender."
Google wouldn't say why it decided to hide its Gay Pride artwork unless certain search terms were entered, and explained the lack of a Gay Pride Google Doodle that everyone could see by telling CNN, "It's difficult to choose which events to celebrate," adding that the company has "a long list of those we'd like to celebrate in the future."
Some critics are disappointed in Google's approach, saying that Google knows that anti-gay users are unlikely to enter any of those search terms into the Google window. Nicholas Jackson of The Atlantic wishes Google had been more obvious with its artwork. Jackson, who is gay, writes, "Instead of boldly declaring its support of gay and lesbian pride month, Google added a tiny rainbow to the end of its search bar."
It certainly looks to us like Google was trying to avoid offending anti-gay activists. Perhaps the company should have been more courageous with this one. We've asked Google if it was playing it safe for Gay Pride month, and are waiting for a response.