the daily snivel

Writing from the comfort of my Apple iBook, I just had to point out the fact that the Microsoft Corporation is rightly taking a lot of heat for the fact that it has bowed out of support for a human rights bill in its home State of Washington that would grant gays and lesbians protection discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Apparently its decision was based on boycott pressure received from a local church. Given Microsoft's history of supporting rights for gays and lesbians and its proud proclamations of this in its public statements, I think this is a callow and shameful reversal, and a true display of hypocrisy. Corporations' sole responsibility may be to the bottom line, but they shouldn't crassly promote a buyer-friendly image of concern for human rights only to crumple in the face of pressure from the radical clerics of the Christian right.

Think about that the next time you're getting ready to buy a new computer.

From the New York Times:

Microsoft Comes Under Fire for Reversal on Gay Rights Bill
By SARAH KERSHAW

Published: April 22, 2005

SEATTLE, April 21 - The Microsoft Corporation, at the forefront of corporate gay rights for decades, is coming under fire from gay rights groups, politicians and its own employees for withdrawing its support for a state bill that would have barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Many of the critics accused the company of bowing to pressure from a prominent evangelical church in Redmond, Wash., located a few blocks from Microsoft's sprawling headquarters.

The bill, or similar versions of it, has been introduced repeatedly over three decades; it failed by one vote Thursday in the State Senate. Gay rights advocates denounced Microsoft, which had supported the bill for the last two years, for abandoning their cause. Blogs and online chat rooms were buzzing on Thursday with accusations that the company, which has offered benefits to same-sex partners for years, had given in to the Christian right.

"I think people should feel betrayed," said Tina Podlodowski, a former Microsoft senior manager and former Seattle city councilwoman who now runs an advocacy group for AIDS patients. "To me, Microsoft has been one of the big supporters of gay and lesbian civil rights issues, and they did it when it wasn't an issue of political expediency, when it was the right thing to do."

Microsoft officials denied any connection between their decision not to endorse the bill and the church's opposition, although they acknowledged meeting twice with the church minister, Ken Hutcherson.

Dr. Hutcherson, pastor of the Antioch Bible Church, who has organized several rallies opposing same-sex marriage here and in Washington, D.C., said he threatened in those meetings to organize a national boycott of Microsoft products.

After that, "they backed off," the pastor said Thursday in a telephone interview. "I told them I was going to give them something to be afraid of Christians about," he said.

...

But State Representative Ed Murray, an openly gay Democrat and a sponsor of the bill, said that in a conversation last month with Bradford L. Smith, Microsoft's senior vice president and general counsel, Mr. Smith made it clear to him that the company was under pressure from the church and the pastor and that he was also concerned about the reaction to company support of the bill among its Christian employees, the lawmaker said.
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