You may be surprised — or disturbed — by what happens when families search Google for advice about having a gay child. Some search results are directing parents to Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian organization long known for opposing LGBTQ rights. One example comes directly from Focus on the Family’s own website. A parent asked, “What should we say to our college-age son who claims to be a ‘gay Christian’?”
The response offered by Focus on the Family is deeply troubling to many LGBTQ advocates. The organization reassures parents their “feelings are normal,” but then goes further, recommending strict house rules that silence their gay son. The advice includes forbidding him from talking to younger siblings about his sexuality, banning any displays of affection with a partner, and even suggesting parents prepare a written contract with their child if he wishes to stay at home.
At one point, Focus on the Family urges parents to consider counseling, not to affirm their son’s identity, but to reinforce what they describe as “biblical standards of morality.” They advise parents to make clear that if their son cannot live by those restrictions, he should move out. Queer advocates say this type of advice promotes rejection rather than love. It echoes the discredited practices of conversion therapy, which medical experts widely condemn as harmful.
The larger concern is whether Google’s search algorithm is unintentionally funneling families in crisis toward these kinds of anti-LBGTQ voices. For queer Christians and their allies, the fear is that when parents seek help, the first voices they hear may not affirm their child’s identity, but instead instruct them to police it.
The question now is should Google be held accountable for where it sends vulnerable families looking for answers?
