MOUNTAINVIEW, California, March 21, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — New reports indicate that Google’s Vice President Vishal Sharma pulled the trigger that banned Dr. Michael Brown from advertising his Christian ministry and his video “Can You Be Gay and Christian?” on YouTube.
According to leaked internal company documents, enough employees at Google (which owns YouTube) were upset by Brown’s video explaining Christian teachings on same-sex “marriage” that company V.P. Sharma agreed that YouTube should not accept advertising the video.
Internal communications obtained by the Daily Caller revealed a backlash by employees who were upset by Brown’s video. In a listserv, “Yes at Google,” which is operated by Google’s human resources department, the backlash grew large enough to merit a direct response from Sharma. Devoted to enforcing a company ban on “microaggressions,” the listserve has more than 30,000 members and is dedicated to enforcing “micro-corrections” within the company.
One employee wrote on the listserv that it was impossible to understand why Google would tolerate placing Brown’s ads on videos produced by LGBT videographers on YouTube. “This seems very counter to our mission,” wrote the employee, “specifically around PRIDE 2018 timeframe.”
In response, Sharma agreed to remove the offending video. “Thank you for raising this very important issue. It means a lot to me personally and those of us working on this across the Ads and YouTube teams. YouTube is an open platform and we support the free expression of creators with a wide range of views,” Sharma wrote. He wrote that Google will not allow advertising that “disparages people based on who they are — including their sexual orientation — and we remove ads that violate this basic principle.” Sharma said Google removed Brown’s ad because it “violates our policy.”
YouTube has demonetized 1,600 of Brown’s videos. Google software engineer Mike Wacker revealed last week that the company’s human resources department exhibits bias against Christians by labeling Christian YouTube ads “homophobic.”
In an article at The Stream, Brown wrote that he based his video on biblical teachings regarding marriage and homosexuality. He asked, rhetorically, “[Do] I express hatred against any group in the video? Is there anything in the video that could be called homophobic?” “[D]o I state clearly that Jesus died for all, loves all, and offers redemption and transformation to all? Have I excluded any individual or group from God’s redeeming love?” Brown, who is a popular Christian media personality, wrote that his debate opponents have not been able to produce any scriptural support for their views.
Brown cited Sharma, who wrote that Google is an “open platform” that offers “free expression” for a “wide range of views.” However, Brown wrote, Google’s openness does not allow transgressing the sensitivities of LGBTQ advocates. “One dare not present biblical truth in love,” Brown wrote, “when that truth is deemed offensive.” Noting that he simply repeated millennia-old Jewish and Christian teachings about homosexual practices and did not condemn anyone for having feelings or attractions, Brown wrote that the issue at hand is whether “we act on those feelings or attractions. And that, in fact, is our choice.”
According to Brown, Google’s battle is with the Bible. “In short then,” he wrote, “biblical content about homosexual practice, spoken accurately and with love, violates Google’s policy.” Saying that Google has decided that certain groups “cannot and must not be offended, even with biblical truth,” others will be punished by Google. Brown wrote that while “God’s word will stand forever,” even Google “will be here today and gone tomorrow.”