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Microsoft May Support Gay Rights Bill - Next Year

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 11:14:04 PM EST
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Microsoft's Bill Gates says he is reconsideringthe company's decision last week not to support a Washington state bill that would protect gays from housing, employment and other discrimination - for next year. We wrote about the furor the decision caused here.

Unfortunately, the bill has already been voted down in Washington this year. It lost by one vote.

In an interview with The Seattle Times on Monday, Mr. Gates, who rarely grants interviews and declined through a spokesman Tuesday to grant one to The New York Times, indicated that he was surprised by the backlash to the company's turnaround on the legislation. He also suggested that Microsoft, which had been known for decades as a corporate leader on gay rights and had supported the bill in previous years, might change course next year because of the controversy.

The bill was defeated by one vote in the State Senate last week. Microsoft had withdrawn its support, and critics said the company was under pressure from a prominent local evangelical minister who threatened a boycott of Microsoft products.

The Seattle Times article is here.

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    Microsoft May Support Gay Rights Bill - Next Year | 4 comments (4 topical)
    Re: Microsoft May Support Gay Rights Bill - Next (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Apr 27, 2005 at 05:19:51 AM EST
    its only P.R.

    Re: Microsoft May Support Gay Rights Bill - Next (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Apr 27, 2005 at 08:33:27 AM EST
    And rightly so, Fred. MS has more important things to do than shuck and jive to politically correct dogma, like improve their software, make a profit for their investors, and meet their payroll.

    Re: Microsoft May Support Gay Rights Bill - Next (none / 0) (#3)
    by desertswine on Wed Apr 27, 2005 at 09:20:33 AM EST
    Fred's right. Gates keeps Ralph Reed on his payroll.

    Re: Microsoft May Support Gay Rights Bill - Next (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Apr 27, 2005 at 03:56:17 PM EST
    MS also promises to upgrade Bill Gates' 'Where is my stupid ass, now?' software to factor in the grasshoppers in his ears, and the difficulty of receving signals when buried in a mountain of the new, microchipped money. Apparently, when he falls to his knees to fellate the Bush gov't, his "I am the world's richest idiot" software can no longer communicate with his uplinked GPS. Looks like all the bugs aren't in the box, Bill. Maybe if you stopped selling specially-configured GEMS databases to Diebold, you wouldn't be having so much trouble keeping toads from raining on your head.

    Microsoft May Support Gay Rights Bill - Next Year | 4 comments (4 topical)