Google’s Valentine’s video featured a gay couple.

(Credit:
Google Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Please note the correction at the end of this post.

When even corporations can see that a piece of social legislation makes sense, you’d think that the politicians who ultimately work for those corporations would listen. Especially in America.

And yet the path of gay marriage has not been smooth.

Yesterday, though, Google — which has repeated expressed support for gay marriage, for example in this year’s Valentine’s video (embedded) — decided to confront politicians publicly by launching a global campaign called “Legalize Love.”

As Dot429 reports, Google announced its intention yesterday at a Global LGBT Workplace Summit in London.

Its first governmental targets are Singapore and Poland, two countries with slightly different approaches to life.

Having lived in both Singapore and Poland, I feel sure that Google’s task in each country will not be easy but perhaps for different reasons.

In Poland, the Catholic church has considerable influence in politics. The fact that the church’s perception and reality are somewhat in conflict belies the fact that it plays a deep emotional role in the country.

In Singapore, on the other hand, Google’s approach may be more pragmatic, appealing to the highly intelligent, rational (and very well-paid) minds that run that country.

As Google’s Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe reportedly told the Summit: “Singapore wants to be a global financial center and world leader and we can push them on the fact that being a global center and a world leader means you have to treat all people the same, irrespective of their sexual orientation.”

Google wants this campaign to be active in every country in which it has an office. However, it is placing the greatest heat initially on those places that actually have anti-gay legislation.

What’s tragic is that in some of those countries, such legislation is rumored

This article originally appeared on: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57468221-71/google-to-governments-legalize-gay-love/