"Don't be evil" is the unofficial corporate motto of Google, Inc. This week, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page put their money where their motto is, together donating $140,000 to the campaign opposing Proposition 8, the California state initiative that would rewrite the Constitution to ban gay marriage.
Last month, Brin posted an item to Google's official blog explaining the company's formal stance:
While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.
Though West Coast tech companies as a rule tend to have progressive, gay-friendly policies in the workplace, the industry has been regrettably absent from the fight over Proposition 8 until very recently. The donations from Brin and Page help make up for that. All Google employees, be they gay or straight, are fortunate to work for men of such character.