After a campaign by
BiNet USA and
bisexuals worldwide, Google has removed “
bisexual” from its list of banned words.
Los Angeles CA, September 4th 2012 -
BiNet USA is pleased to confirm that Google Inc. has unblocked the term “
bisexual” from its search algorithm. Now that “bisexual” is allowed, terms such as “
bisexual quotes”, “
bisexual rights”, and “
bisexual parenting” are automatically suggested to Google users.
“It’s not every day one of the biggest companies in the world changes its mind, but we are thankful that Google now sees bisexual people just like everyone else,” said
BiNet USA President
Faith Cheltenham. “It will take time for bisexual search terms to be ranked as they were before the ban, but now bisexual people and their allies have a fighting chance to be seen, heard, and understood.”
Since late 2009,
Google has had “bisexual” on a list of banned words; such words were de-prioritized by the Google search algorithm, leading to a drop in search rankings for all bisexual organizations and community resources. Since its search engine would not auto-suggest or auto-complete any term with the word “
bisexual”, Google made it harder for any user to find bisexual content, whether that be on
coming out as bisexual or finding
local support groups across the United States and elsewhere.
BiNet USA spearheaded a campaign to get Google to unblock the word and stop harming a deeply marginalized community even further.
Click
HERE for full Press Release
Source:
BiNet USA,
BiMagazine,
BiMedia