Mark Zuckerberg ‘Likes’ SF LGBT Pride As Tech Companies Publicly Celebrate Equal Rights

Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook employees celebrated the San Francisco LGBT pride parade from a decorated trolley today, as tech companies across the country very visibly supported equal rights. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook had over 700 employees at pride, and Google had over 1,400, around 40% more than last year.

This year’s Pride was particularly joyous, as it came just days after the Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional; the act denied federal benefits to gay couples who were legally married in states that allowed it.

This support is a big deal, but what’s most encouraging to me is that most of the posts I saw today, especially from college friends, didn’t talk about these companies’ support as a big deal at all; it seemed more like the fulfillment of an expectation.

Now, just having fair employment practices isn’t enough. Tech companies, and others, are showing their public support at celebrations like Pride with big team outings that build team cohesiveness and celebrate the company. Those who don’t could be seen as not supporting LGBT employees and could be hurt in recruiting talent.

Like last year, tech companies celebrated across the country:

The Xbox team marched with a neat float in Seattle:

photo

And some Uber folks rolled in style, also at Seattle Pride:

photo-1

Featured image courtesy of Marina Zhao.