Google's terms of service for non-profits may present interesting problems for Christian services not in thrall to the Zeitgeist:
- My organization does not discriminate on any unlawful basis in either hiring/employment practices or in the administration of programs and services.- My organization does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in hiring/employment practices. In Google's terms of service, the latter requirement was once part of the former. No longer. Google not only doesn't allow organizations to "unlawfully" discriminate based on sexuality (the former requirement), but now can't discriminate in any way whatsoever regarding specifically one's sexuality. It's interesting that this is the sole area where Google is asserting requirements beyond the law. Technically, this certainly seems to allow for hiring homosexuals who are celibate. Indeed, it would require that no policy of preference for heterosexuals is in play. Personally, I suspect that Google would frown on any "celibacy" clause, however. Churches already using Google Apps aggressively might want to consider the implications if Google rescinded licensing for Apps based on any finding they might assert. The worst case scenario would be for churches with liberal account policies, because reverting to a business use of Apps would become prohibitively expensive where there are high user counts. In short, the more dependent a church becomes on this asset, the more catastrophic the consequences if Google phones this in. There's a certain sense of "rope-a-dope" to this. If a denomination maintains that homosexuality is disordered, I have little doubt that activists will one day raise public red flags, such that the Googles of the world will feel pressure to act. And it won't much matter whether they call in their non-profit grants of use, or merely change the terms so that churches exercising integrity will be forced to revert to business use. Personally, I don't think this is a matter of if, but of when.
Posted in: Google Apps Free For Churches (Again)
Google's terms of service for non-profits may present interesting problems for Christian services not in thrall to the Zeitgeist:
- My organization does not discriminate on any unlawful basis in either hiring/employment practices or in the administration of programs and services.- My organization does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in hiring/employment practices. In Google's terms of service, the latter requirement was once part of the former. No longer. Google not only doesn't allow organizations to "unlawfully" discriminate based on sexuality (the former requirement), but now can't discriminate in any way whatsoever regarding specifically one's sexuality. It's interesting that this is the sole area where Google is asserting requirements beyond the law. Technically, this certainly seems to allow for hiring homosexuals who are celibate. Indeed, it would require that no policy of preference for heterosexuals is in play. Personally, I suspect that Google would frown on any "celibacy" clause, however. Churches already using Google Apps aggressively might want to consider the implications if Google rescinded licensing for Apps based on any finding they might assert. The worst case scenario would be for churches with liberal account policies, because reverting to a business use of Apps would become prohibitively expensive where there are high user counts. In short, the more dependent a church becomes on this asset, the more catastrophic the consequences if Google phones this in. There's a certain sense of "rope-a-dope" to this. If a denomination maintains that homosexuality is disordered, I have little doubt that activists will one day raise public red flags, such that the Googles of the world will feel pressure to act. And it won't much matter whether they call in their non-profit grants of use, or merely change the terms so that churches exercising integrity will be forced to revert to business use. Personally, I don't think this is a matter of if, but of when.