Sacked Google engineer claims being conservative is like ‘being gay in the 1950s’
A Google engineer who was sacked for a sexist blog post has claimed that being conservative now is like being gay in the 1950s.
The claim comes from James Damore, who has identified himself as the software engineer who was sacked from Google this month after sending an unsolicited memo to all staff arguing that women are biologically ‘unsuited’ to work in the tech industry.
In an interview with Business Insider, Mr Damore claimed that “anyone with a dissenting view can’t even express themselves”.
He added: “Really, it’s like being gay in the 1950s. These conservatives have to stay in the closet and have to mask who they really are.
“And that’s a huge problem because there’s open discrimination against anyone who comes out of closet as a conservative.”
It was illegal to be gay in the US in the 1950s, and the government regularly carried out witch-hunts to ‘purge’ people suspected of being gay.
Gay couples had no legal protections under law. Gay adoption was banned. Gay bars, where they existed, were subjected to regular police raids. Men who were convicted of being gay often faced gay ‘cure’ treatments or chemical castration.
The comments have been roasted online.
Trans actress Bethany Black tweeted: “I had no idea Google were putting conservatives in electro-convulsive therapy and chemically castrating them. Huge if true.”
I had no idea Google were putting conservatives in electro-convulsive therapy and chemically castrating them. Huge if true. https://t.co/Xi4ywFyL4z
— Bethany Black (@BeffernieBlack) August 18, 2017
Other Twitter users joined in.
Yeah, the 1950s, when gays controlled Congress and there was a gay President. https://t.co/5z4ViIHA7d
— Tom Hamilton (@thhamilton) August 18, 2017
Do they chemically castrate conservatives? Give them shock therapy? Lobotomies? Might be worth considering.
— (((dasclassist))) (@jdorchen) August 18, 2017
Yeah, did you guys know gays could get fired in 1950? And nothing that was at all worse than that? Terrible!
— Jon Tucker (@Jonnycakes22) August 18, 2017
Do they chemically castrate conservatives? Give them shock therapy? Lobotomies? Might be worth considering.
— (((dasclassist))) (@jdorchen) August 18, 2017
In certain areas gay people were killed. This a–hole is comparing his firing to that. I hope no one hires this a–hole.
— ___ ___ (@ThinSkinTrump) August 18, 2017
Were you forced into electroshock therapy? No? Were you thrown out of your family? No? Did you lose custody of kids? No? Beaten? #forshame https://t.co/9xid1Xtlqc
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) August 18, 2017
So like Google might kill you in a rage & get off because you winked & won’t let you have a family & criminalized you having any sex? https://t.co/kLlbwsH1V2
— Trace (@trabernlaw) August 18, 2017
The Google employee had typed a so-called “anti-diversity manifesto” and circulated it among colleagues.
The memo argued that Google’s shortage of female engineers was due to biology, not culture.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai slammed the employee, writing: “To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to [Google’s] work is offensive and not OK.
“It is contrary to our basic values and our code of conduct.”
Google later posted to Twitter a statement that read: “Our co-workers shouldn’t have to worry that each time they open their mouths to speak in a meeting, they have to prove they are not like the memo states, being ‘agreeable’ rather than ‘assertive’, showing ‘lower stress tolerance’ or being ‘neurotic’.”
The document, entitled Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber, criticised Google’s “diversity and inclusion” initiatives.
“When it comes to diversity and inclusion, Google’s left bias has created a politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence,” the memo’s author claimed.
