OXON HILL, M.D. — Former Google senior software engineer James Damore told PJ Media that conservatives at Google are terrified to reveal themselves as conservative, just as many people with same-sex attraction are “in the closet,” hiding their homosexuality. After his “ideological echo chamber” manifesto went viral, Damore said many of his close friends came “out of the closet,” telling him they were secretly conservative.

“Many people are in the closet actually, if you’re a conservative,” Damore told PJ Media in an interview on Friday. “Even some of my close friends — I had known them for years. After the memo had gone viral, they came to me and were like, ‘Yeah, that really resonated with me, I’m conservative.'”

“I had no idea,” the former engineer said.

Damore described life as a conservative in Silicon Valley, “always having to be quiet on any political topic, and having to endure just misrepresentations of conservative thought and trashing of conservative politicians.”

“It’s really disheartening to have to endure that, being forced to be silent,” the engineer explained.

The culture of hostility to conservatives runs deep at Google, the former employee argued. When human resources departments realize an employee is conservative, they retaliate. “It wasn’t directly fired like I was, but they said, ‘Let’s put you on some sort of performance plan.'”

Terrifyingly, Damore said that Leftist staffers are “digging through” a private conservative mailing list inside the company, searching for any excuse to fire people. The company also filters conservatives out on the front end, however.

“Especially when they make the decision on whether to hire you or not,” the former engineer said. “If you’re not a ‘cultural fit,’ then that’s often a euphemism for ‘you’re a conservative.'”

Damore further emphasized that human resources staff “actively look for diversity advocacy. I’ve seen examples where someone will write an article that’s pro-diversity or whatever, and they try to use that as leverage to try to get into the company.”

On the topic of diversity and inclusivity, the former software engineer explained a double standard. Google “tries to be very inclusive, but only inclusive of certain types of people — traditionally marginalized groups rather than, say, conservatives or men.”

“In an effort to try to include other people, they will actively marginalize other groups,” Damore said. “Anything that’s socially conservative is a big ‘no’ for them. They don’t really see much of traditional conservative thought to be legitimate at all. They think most of the country’s just stupid.”

Last August, Google fired Damore after the former software engineer released a memo attacking the company as an “ideological echo chamber,” and suggesting there might be reasons for the gender gap in technology beyond discrimination against women.

Damore filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), but withdrew the complaint when it took “months” to process a complaint that usually only “lasts just a couple weeks.” Last month, he filed a class-action lawsuit against Google, suing for discrimination against men, white people, and conservatives.

Last month, a Lincoln Network survey revealed widespread fear and self-censorship among conservatives at companies across Silicon Valley — Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft, as well as Google. Most Silicon Valley employees said they were “hesitant” to “truly bring their whole selves to work.” A full 89 percent of very conservative workers and 74 percent of conservative employees said so.

“Some of my colleagues will openly mock conservatives, assuming that everyone within earshot is liberal. Multiple times I’ve had to sit through cruel mockery of my home state while others nodded and laughed along,” one conservative explained. Another recalled, “After the election, the head of a department made multiple insinuations we should fire employees who voted for Trump.”

In light of this cultural climate, it stands to reason conservatives would hesitate to reveal their political identity.