There were multiple reports (Gawker, Ology) over the last few days that Google had apparently enabled some type of Gaydar to it’s searches. It actually worked pretty simply…just type in the name of a celebrity with the word ‘gay’ after and the Google Panda would offer it’s “best guess” on if that person was gay, straight, or bisexual. The results stemmed from web pages Google found where that particular celebrity discussed or documented their sexual orientation and it often listed the sources. Below is a screen shot that the folks over at Autostraddle captured.
It’s a good thing they caught these screenshots, because when I tried today it simply doesn’t do this for any celebrity. Apparently Google has disabled it’s Gaydar either for the time being or permanently. I’m sure in this day and age there were probably some complaints and Google might have just decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. I personally couldn’t care less.
While Google would only guess on celebrities, it would not take guesses at..let’s say, you wondered if your son was gay. But, this app will. Technology sure has come a long way.