West Virginia congressman David McKinley won a True Blue award this year from the Family Research Council for his 100% voting record in opposition to abortion and LGBTQ rights. Google gave him $1000 on May 24pic.twitter.com/WHSC1Ahcqt
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As a Louisiana state rep, Mike Johnson introduced a "Marriage and Conscience Act" that would have given legal cover to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in Louisiana. Now that he's in Congress, Google gives him money—$1000 on May 24pic.twitter.com/7D7W3q6FoG
(A reminder that these are all donations made just last month, in the middle of Google's extensive preparations for its public support of #pride )
Greg Walden was one of 7 republicans to flip his vote in 2016 on an amendment protecting LGBT workers from discrimination by Federal contractors. (see https://www.rollcall.com/news/democrats-pounce-vulnerable-republicans-suspected-switching-vote-lgbt-protections … for procedural details of this shameful affair). Google gave him $2500 on May 24pic.twitter.com/a8bCMUSAqY
In 2015, Texas congressman Bill Flores made a bizarre argument linking the protests in Baltimore and rise poverty to the decline of traditional marriage "between a man and a woman". (https://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/congressman-links-baltimore-crisis-to-same-sex-marriage-117495 …) Google gave Flores $1000 on May 24pic.twitter.com/7E9tePMfVr
Buddy Carter opposes marriage equality, and in 2017 had this to say about transgender Americans: "I don't want 'em serving in the military. I'm sorry." That apology was apparently enough for Google, who gave Carter $1000 on May 24
Mark Walker is one of the more radical right-wing figures in Congress, who famously referred to his colleagues as "eye candy" during a 2017 press conference (https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/politics/mark-walker-eye-candy-remarks/index.html …). Google gave his campaign $2500 on May 24pic.twitter.com/MbfDSR3GAy
Mike Burgess of Texas, most famous for his riveting comments on fetal masturbation (https://rewire.news/article/2013/06/17/texas-congressman-masturbating-fetuses-prove-need-for-abortion-ban/ …), is another Congressman with a long record of anti-LGBT votes receiving a shameful $2500 check from Google on the eve of #pridepic.twitter.com/Ua9kogCSuJ
In 2015, Bob Latta co-sponsored a House resolution that would have outlawed gay marriage. Google gave him $2500 on May 24pic.twitter.com/H8SpUqgpLU
Louisiana congressman Garret Graves is another legislator who voted against the Equality Act and got a $1000 check from Google.pic.twitter.com/NwTN7ZJ11y
CORRECTION: upthread I said Mike Conaway voted against hate crime legislation in the wake of the Orlando shooting. That is not right, his vote against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act came in 2009. My apologies for reversing time there.
Thank you for sticking with this long thread! I hope it persuades you that Google says about #pride bears little relation to its actual political giving. Many of the legislators in this thread assert that LGBTQ Americans are morally defective, and Google gives them money.
But what can you actually *do* about it? This filing comes with a full list of Google employees who donate to the PAC, most by automatic paycheck deduction. If you work at Google, you can talk to them about where there money is going. The list is here: https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/811/201906209150154811/201906209150154811.pdf …
There are some very famous names on that list—pioneers of the internet! They are people who I know don't share the reprehensible values of the legislators in this thread. As their co-workers, you can persuade them and get the Google tech PAC defunded.
If you don't work at Google, you can fight by not letting them get away with vocal support for #pride without answering for their shameful political giving. And if you are invited to interview there, make it clear that this support is what led you to decline.
I hope the organizers of @SFPride will weigh these donations, made just three weeks ago, in deciding whether to disinvite Google from the event. Google, through their HR policies, tolerance of YouTube hate speech, and political giving, have told us who they are. Will we listen?
Note that Sundar Pichai donates personally to Google PAC, and so his money ended up in the pockets of the candidates in this thread. Why not drop him a line asking him how he reconciles this with his public comments? Unlike the company founders, he may actually respond!pic.twitter.com/leZV7exbev
And I want to just re-link this video of Virginia Foxx saying in 2009 that the Matthew Shepard story was a hoax. Sundar Pichai's money, and Peter Norvig's money, and Vint Cerf's money, and Susan Wojcicki's money, all went into her campaign last month. Why?https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1143939431176347650 …
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