{"id":3283,"date":"2005-04-21T10:15:24","date_gmt":"2005-04-21T17:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2005\/04\/21\/ms-backing-down-on-gay-rights\/"},"modified":"2019-12-13T12:08:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T20:08:21","slug":"ms-backing-down-on-gay-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2005\/04\/21\/ms-backing-down-on-gay-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"MS backing down on gay rights?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:8414,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.thestranger.com\\\/2005-04-21\\\/feature.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20080516195450\\\/http:\\\/\\\/thestranger.com\\\/2005-04-21\\\/feature.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-10 10:09:55&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-20 20:01:32&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-20 20:01:32&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8415,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/americablog.blogspot.com\\\/2005\\\/04\\\/take-action-microsoft-abandons-gays.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260310103216\\\/https:\\\/\\\/americablog.blogspot.com\\\/2005\\\/04\\\/take-action-microsoft-abandons-gays.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8416,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/radio.weblogs.com\\\/0001011\\\/2005\\\/04\\\/21.html#a9908&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20090825030751\\\/http:\\\/\\\/radio.weblogs.com:80\\\/0001011\\\/2005\\\/04\\\/21.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-10 10:10:02&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-20 20:01:32&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-20 20:01:32&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8417,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/seattlepi.nwsource.com\\\/local\\\/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&amp;slug=WA+XGR+Gay+Rights&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.seattlepi.com\\\/local\\\/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8418,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.salon.com\\\/politics\\\/war_room\\\/index.html?blog=\\\/politics\\\/war_room\\\/2005\\\/04\\\/21\\\/msft\\\/index.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.salon.com\\\/politics\\\/war_room\\\/index.html?blog=\\\/politics\\\/war_room\\\/2005\\\/04\\\/21\\\/msft\\\/index.html&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestranger.com\/2005-04-21\/feature.html\" title=\"The Stranger: MICROSOFT CAVES ON GAY RIGHTS\">this week&#8217;s The Stranger<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  In a move that angered many of the company&#8217;s gay employees, the Microsoft Corporation, publicly perceived as the vanguard institution of the new economy, has taken a major political stand in favor of age-old discrimination.<\/p>\n<p>  The Stranger has learned that last month the $37-billion Redmond-based software behemoth quietly withdrew its support for House bill 1515, the anti-gay-discrimination bill currently under consideration by the Washington State legislature, after being pressured by the Evangelical Christian pastor of a suburban megachurch. The pastor, Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, met with a senior Microsoft executive in February and threatened to organize a national boycott of the company&#8217;s products if it did not change its stance on the legislation, according to gay rights activists and a Microsoft employee who attended a subsequent April 4 meeting where Bradford L. Smith, Microsoft&#8217;s senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary, told a group of gay staffers about Hutcherson&#8217;s threat.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/americablog.blogspot.com\/2005\/04\/take-action-microsoft-abandons-gays.html\" title=\"AMERICAblog:  TAKE ACTION: Microsoft abandons gays\">AMERICAblog comments<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  Microsoft Corporation pulled its support for a gay rights bill in Washington state last month after complaints from a single radical right anti-gay leader, according to an article just published in the Seattle paper, The Stranger (the article is on the news stands already, online Thursday).<\/p>\n<p>  My sources in Washington state tell me that the vote on the bill, expected in two days (Friday), is SO CLOSE that Microsoft&#8217;s actions may be pivotal in KILLING THE PRO-GAY LEGISLATION.<\/p>\n<p>  The radical right activist reportedly told Microsoft it had better pull its support for the gays or anti-gay bigots would launch a nationwide boycott of Microsoft, and guess what &#8211; Microsoft caved. A single anti-gay jerk, and Microsoft chose to reverse over ten years of policy and bash gays.<\/p>\n<p>  This is outrageous. It&#8217;s also incredibly dangerous. For over a decade Microsoft, along with hundreds of other corporate leaders, has endorsed gay rights legislation in the states and nationally. And now, suddenly, because ONE ANTI-GAY ACTIVIST COMPLAINED, they&#8217;ve suddenly changed their minds ON A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE. A rather big &#8220;oops&#8221; after ten years of being in favor of civil rights, don&#8217;t you think?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/radio.weblogs.com\/0001011\/2005\/04\/21.html#a9908\" title=\"Scobleizer: Microsoft abandons gays? Not me.\">Robert Scoble comments<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  I don&#8217;t know anything about it, or anything about how Microsoft decides to support political issues, but human rights is very important to me personally and I&#8217;m gonna take this up with the leadership of the company and support this cause.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><ins>Update:<\/ins> The anti-discrimination bill, which had been passed 61-37 by the House in February, was <a href=\"http:\/\/seattlepi.nwsource.com\/local\/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&amp;slug=WA+XGR+Gay+Rights\" title=\"Seattle PI: Washington Senate rejects gay civil rights bill\">defeated this afternoon <em>by one vote<\/em><\/a> (via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.salon.com\/politics\/war_room\/index.html?blog=\/politics\/war_room\/2005\/04\/21\/msft\/index.html\" title=\"Salon Politics: Another reason to switch?\">Salon<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a move that angered many of the company&#8217;s gay employees, the Microsoft Corporation, publicly perceived as the vanguard institution of the new economy, has taken a major political stand in favor of age-old discrimination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2042],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-3283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-links"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}