Google+ on Sexual Orientation, Politics, and Religion

Finding your niche currently requires a little effort.

The purpose of this post is encourage a conversation that will help others find their niche and was inspired by an article I read about on sexual orientation. This post is not the place for airing your grievances against any community (I specifically mean hateful posts, and yes, “hateful” is up to my discretion), and I will not tolerate that in this discussion. If I see this happening with any sort of frequency, I will have no problem deleting the post entirely. Fair warning.

A keen and perhaps controversial article written by +Carter Gibson for PlusHeadlines.com reveals a lack of a sexual orientation option on Google+ profile pages. If you have strong feelings about this, please make sure to weigh in on Carter’s article on his G+ post or the blog commentary field. I’m sure he’ll appreciate all intellectual contribution on the topic.

I looked for myself and also noticed a lack of a “political” field and also a “religion” field.

Besides haphazardly speculating on the lack of these options (which, I believe, is both dangerous and irresponsible), I believe that this conversation can be had both intelligently and openly.

Carter argues that having the choice to display these things (well, Carter speaks solely about sexual orientation in his article) as a native G+ profile feature would help both individuals and businesses/organizations discover each other based on what might be a common interest and/or way of identifying oneself. At some point, we expect Google to release a native search feature for Google+, and as usual, we’ll expect filters to exist, and advanced search options, complex strings of Boolean… things (etc, etc, ad nauseum ad infinitum maximus redundimus et al.) Being able to search by sexual orientation, political leanings, and religion is important, right?

Well, to many it might be.

Of course, this opens the gate for the intolerant and belligerent to run amok, or several moks, but that’s what the report feature is for, no? And these communities have enough combined knowledge, education, and history to be replete with methods of dealing with those who stand against them whether or not it’s belligerent.

As for now, profiles are more or less fully customizable in terms of all the text content you wish to supply. While there may not be native features for these options, you can still fly your flag proudly or not wish to display your flag at all. Google does provide you with the opportunity to do… whatever it is you wish to do, right? So maybe this isn’t an “issue” yet. You can still search profiles. You can create your own circles. You can find people if you try. It’s not as EASY as it can be yet, but if you’re looking for something on G+, I believe you can find it with a little effort.

What are your thoughts? In what ways have you been able to find people who belong to a specific niche without a native Google+ search function?