ACTION ALERT: Microsoft Abandons Gays, caves-in to bigots

[Ian David]

From: John - THE LIST <[e-mail]>

THE LIST - SPECIAL UPDATE
====================================================================

In This Issue:

- TAKE ACTION: Microsoft abandons gays
- MICROSOFT SECRETLY PULLS SUPPORT FOR GAY RIGHTS BILL IN WASHINGTON
STATE TO CURRY FAVOR WITH RELIGIOUS RIGHT
- WILL MICROSOFT NOW PULL ITS SUPPORT FOR OTHER GAY RIGHTS?
- EXCERPTS FROM 'THE STRANGER' ARTICLE ON MICROSOFT
- MICROSOFT SAYS ANTI-GAY POLICY SHIFT IS NOT ISOLATED INCIDENT
- WHAT THE BILL DOES, MICROSOFT BRAGS NO ONE WILL FIND OUT WHAT THEY
DID
- SEE MICROSOFT LIE. LIE, MICROSOFT, LIE.
- *** TAKE ACTION ***


TAKE ACTION: Microsoft abandons gays

Gang, This post is long because it's important. What I describe in
detail below, Microsoft caving to religious right extremists, is not
just outrageous and unprecedented, it's downright dangerous for all
of our civil rights considering the precedent Microsoft has just set
for other businesses that follow its lead. We have a little over 24
hours for Microsoft make things right, otherwise Microsoft may have
just killed a major gay rights bill out west.

If anyone out there has inside phone numbers and email addresses for
the Microsoft brass, please email them to me. I have some email and
phone contacts at the end of this post, PLEASE USE THEM.

Thanks, JOHN

Find a clean copy of this alert, with active hyperlinks, on my blog
here
http://thelist.c.topica.com/maadqQiabgf4SbNHciReaehnyv/



MICROSOFT SECRETLY PULLS SUPPORT FOR GAY RIGHTS BILL IN WASHINGTON
STATE TO CURRY FAVOR WITH RELIGIOUS RIGHT

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).

My sources in Washington state tell me that the vote on the bill,
expected in two days (Friday), is SO CLOSE that Microsoft's actions
may be pivotal in KILLING THE PRO-GAY LEGISLATION.

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 - Microsoft caved.
A single anti-gay jerk, and Microsoft chose to reverse over ten
years of policy and bash gays.

This is outrageous. It'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've
suddenly changed their minds ON A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE. A rather big
"oops" after ten years of being in favor of civil rights, don't you
think?




WILL MICROSOFT NOW PULL ITS SUPPORT FOR OTHER GAY RIGHTS?

What other "oopsies" does Microsoft now have in store for America's
civil rights community?

- Does Microsoft now regret <a
href="http://thelist.c.topica.com/maadqQiabgf4TbNHciReaehnyv/">having
endorsed</a> the Employment Non-Discrimination Act at the federal
level, something it did years ago?

- Does Microsoft regret having received a friggin' gay rights
award from the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Center back in
2001? I know I regret their receiving it.

- And does Microsoft now regret having bragged <a
href="http://thelist.c.topica.com/maadqQiabgf4UbNHciReaehnyv/">ON
THEIR OWN WEB SITE</a> that they're such a big supporter of local
and national gay rights legislation? I certainly hope THAT Web page
is coming down, and soon.

Come on Microsoft, you can't have your fags and bash them too.

Are you pro-gay or not? Do you support civil rights or not? You
clearly did support gays, for over 12 years now that I've been
involved in gay politics, yet now suddenly we give you the willies?
And what's worse, the statements your company has made about this
specific issue are terrifying in terms of what they imply for how
you're going to treat civil rights issues nationwide in the future.

Let me give you a taste of what Microsoft said, per the article (an
astute AMERICAblogger in Seattle got a copy of the paper and faxed
me the article, not gonna transcribe the whole thing, you can read
it online on Thursday).




EXCERPTS FROM 'THE STRANGER' ARTICLE ON MICROSOFT

From The Stranger:

BEGIN QUOTE: In a move that angered many of the company'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.

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....

April 4 meeting where Bradford L. Smith, Microsoft's senior vice
president, general counsel, and corporate secretary, told a group of
gay staffers about threat....

At the April 4 meeting, Smith told members of GLEAM, the gay and
lesbian employees group at Microsoft, that the company had switched
its official stance to "neutral" on the bill, and took personal
responsibility for the decision. He characterized the shift as part
of a broader general review of company policy designed to more
precisely formulate criteria for determining when Microsoft should
involve itself in "social issues," but also disclosed the pressure
that had been brought to bear on him by Hutcherson" END QUOTE




MICROSOFT SAYS ANTI-GAY POLICY SHIFT IS NOT ISOLATED INCIDENT

What you just read in the quote above is important for two reasons.
First, later on you'll see that Microsoft tries to lie about why it
dropped its support for gay civil rights in Washington state.

But more importantly, read what Microsoft is really saying. This
isn't just an isolated incident. Microsoft having chucked the gays
in Washington is part of a "broader general review of company
policy" - i.e., they didn't do this in a vacuum, but rather, this is
a sign of a bigger shift in Microsoft's policies, policies that have
clearly now moved away from their past support of the civil rights
of their gay and lesbian employees.

More from The Stranger:

BEGIN QUOTE: That one of the world's best-known corporations,
synonymous with cutting-edge workplace innovation, would reverse its
stance on such a basic piece of legislation because of threats from
one minister seems to be yet another sign of the ongoing
reverberations of last November's presidential election, when "moral
values" voters were widely - if probably erroneously - perceived to
have played the role of kingmaker in ensuring the reelection of
President Bush.

"The pastor of a megachurch gets a meeting in two weeks with one of
the top executives at one of the world's most powerful corporations.
He makes these idle threats and he gets everything he wants," the
GLEAM member who reported Smith's comments says. "Microsoft just got
taken to the cleaners on this issue." END QUOTE




WHAT THE BILL DOES, MICROSOFT BRAGS NO ONE WILL FIND OUT WHAT THEY
DID

WHAT THE BILL DOES & OTHER COMPANIES WHO ENDORSE IT

From the Stranger:

BEGIN QUOTE: House Bill 1515 would protect gays and lesbians from
discrimination in employment, housing, banking, insurance, and other
matters by adding sexual orientation to a state law which already
bars discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin,
gender, marital status, and mental or physical handicap. More than a
dozen states currently have similar laws on the books....

The list of high-profile companies that endorsed the bill this year
reads like a who's who of the Pacific Northwest corporate world. It
includes the Boeing Company, Nike, Coors Brewing, Qwest
Communications, Washington Mutual, Hewlett-Packard, Corbis, Battelle
Memorial Institute, Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc.,
and others. And as late as February 1, Microsoft, which issued a
letter in support of the bill last year, appeared poised to do so
again.... END QUOTE

MICROSOFT BRAGS "NO ONE WILL KNOW" IF COMPANY'S ACTIONS KILL PRO-GAY
BILL

From the Stranger:

BEGIN QUOTE: DeLee Shoemaker, an aide to former Governor Gary Locke
who now handles state-level government relations for Microsoft, had
issued a letter in support of the bill. "We are going to be
providing copies of that letter to the committee," he said. McCurdy
spoke too soon. Murray says that beginning on February 7 he began
receiving calls from company employees informing him that Hutcherson
was pressuring the company to change its position on the bill.
Murray eventually contacted Shoemaker. She admitted to him that
Microsoft was planning to change its position on the bill. "I told
her, 'This is a crisis. It will kill the bill,'" he says. "She said
no one will know.".... END QUOTE




SEE MICROSOFT LIE. LIE, MICROSOFT, LIE.

From the Stranger

BEGIN QUOTE: ccording to Microsoft corporate communications
spokesperson Tami Begasse... "Microsoft's position on the bill this
year was not the result of "any external factors... In this case
there was some apparent confusion surrounding some employees who
testified as individual citizens in Olympia in February, and the
company felt it was appropriate for the employees to make their
roles clear as they were not representing or speaking for the
company." END QUOTE

Excuse me, but the "apparent confusion" wasn't over Microsoft's
employees testifying and saying that Microsoft supported the
legislation. That's all true and incontrovertible. According to
the Stranger article, Microsoft supported the legislation last year:
"Microsoft, which issued a letter in support of the bill last
year..."

No confusion there.

And Microsoft endorsed the bill this year too, before it changed its
mind.

Again from the Stranger:

BEGIN QUOTE "At the April 4 meeting,
told members of GLEAM, the gay and lesbian employees group at
Microsoft, that the company had switched its official stance to
"neutral" on the bill, and took personal responsibility for the
decision."

"DeLee Shoemaker, an aide to former Governor Gary Locke who now
handles state-level government relations for Microsoft, had issued a
letter in support of the bill.... She admitted to him that Microsoft
was planning to change its position on the bill. "I told her, 'This
is a crisis. It will kill the bill,'" he says. "She said no one will
know."" END QUOTE

The confusion was not surrounding what the employees said. The
confusion is because Microsoft was for the bill before it was
against it.

Not to mention, you gotta love the last part of that Microsoft
quote. Yes, that's right, no one will know - hee hee hee - if
Microsoft is secretly responsible for callously killing legislation
granting gays and lesbians their share of the American dream.
Pretty sneaky of you, Microsoft. Too bad you got caught.

Which begs a much larger question. Why did Microsoft, which has
been so good on gay issues for at least 13 years that I know of,
suddenly pull the plug and apparently change their entire corporate
outlook on civil rights issues simply because one right-wing kook
walked into their offices. Makes you wonder if something else isn't
going on here, some quid pro quo or something.

Could the Bush Administration have had a hand in this? Remember,
Bush worked out a backroom deal with the Salvation Army a few years
back to kill local gay rights laws. Did something like that happen
here too? Did Microsoft's decision to change its pro civil rights
stance have anything to do with the larger issue of the feds
dropping their anti-trust investigation of Microsoft? Something
doesn't smell right about Microsoft's sudden about face on civil
rights. These are questions that need to be answered.

And in the meantime, Microsoft can go to hell. If it wants to throw
minorities and our civil rights to the back of the bus in order to
pander to bigots, then Microsoft can now pay the full price of its
prejudice. And I promise you, it will be costly.




*** TAKE ACTION ***

1. Call Microsoft's director of Government Relations, Jack
Krumholtz, at tel. [phone] and tell him:

- You know about Microsoft secretly pulling its support for the
Washington state gay rights bill, and you're not happy about
Microsoft kissing up to anti-gay bigots.

- You demand that Microsoft IMMEDIATELY and PUBLICLY endorse the gay
rights bill in Washington state, and demand that Microsoft publicly
repudiate its new policy of backing-off of support for the civil
rights of gays and lesbians and other Americans.

- Tell him that if the Washington state gay rights bill dies on
Friday, Microsoft's reputation goes down with it.

2. Contact these other contacts for Microsoft and its public
relations reps and tell them the same thing:

- Jim Desler,
Microsoft US
425-703-6061
<a href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>

- Dirk Delmartino,
Microsoft Europe
[phone]
<a href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>

- The firm handling public policy for Microsoft in DC:
The Glover Park Group
Washington, DC
202-337-0808

- The firm handling Microsoft's "rapid response" to questions:
Waggener Edstrom Rapid Response Team
<a href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>
503-443-7070

- Media Relations for Microsoft
Global Communications & Television
[phone]
<a href="MAILTO:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>

- Microsoft Investor Relations
Curt Anderson
[phone]

- Shoreen Maghame, Edelman, [phone], <a
href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>

- Sean Durkin, Edelman, [phone], <a
href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>

- Walt McGraw, Edelman, [phone], <a
href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>

- Shon Damron, Edelman, [phone], <a
href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>


Carlos de Leon,tel. [phone], or <a
href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>

Katie Goldberg, tel. [phone], or <a
href="mailto:[e-mail]"><a
href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a></a>

2. Demand that Microsoft return the award it received from the Los
Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. We don't give corporate bigots
awards, and we don't expect them to keep such awards under false
pretenses. If Microsoft has now rethunk its position on defending
civil rights, then give back the damn award:

Per Microsoft's own Web site:Microsoft has been honored for its
pioneering work on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender community with the annual Corporate Vision Award of the
Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center.Yeah, I don't think so.

And finally, maybe it's time I gave some serious thought to buying
that <a href="http://thelist.c.topica.com/maadqQiabgf32bNHciReaehnyv/">Mac Mini</a>, and
testing the waters as to whether it's time to go Mac and never go
back.

An Apple a day keeps the bigot away?

Visit my blog for a cleaner copy of this alert, with active
hyperlinks
http://thelist.c.topica.com/maadqQiabgf4SbNHciReaehnyv/


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href="http://thelist.c.topica.com/maadqQiabgf2ZbNHciReaehnyv/">http://www.gayadvocacy.com</a>
http://thelist.c.topica.com/maadqQiabgf2ZbNHciReaehnyv/

[Tux]

1. And people

Wonder why I use Linux.

[justin899]

2. This is despicable

John, over at America Blog, has written a letter that says it all.