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The Inquirer (UK)
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While Microsoft prepares to "Start Something" next week at WinHEC 2005, the company is facing a heap of criticism that threatens to overshadow its biggest event in years. Microsoft is under fire from gay rights advocates and even its own employees for withdrawing support from a bill that outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation....UPI:
Reaction to the reversal of support for the bill was widespread, as Microsoft employees and followers publicly expressed their dismay.
"How far up the ladder was this decision made? Who is to blame? Someone is. Sure, in a company with 50,000 employees, not everyone is bound to agree to the same moral code but to think that "nobody will know" in this day and era about a subject still contentious (grr) sounds to me like not only a serious misjudgment, but a total lack of understanding," one Microsoft MVP wrote in his Web log.
"I hate to rush to judgment myself, however I seriously do not like the tone with which this action was taken. It feels underhanded. I hope more information about why this was done and who put a stamp on it will come forward. I don't think that person, or persons should be working at Microsoft."
Gay rights advocates along with Microsoft employees denounced Microsoft. "I think people should feel betrayed," said Tina Podlodowski, a former Microsoft senior manager who now runs an advocacy group for AIDS patients.Gay Financial Network:
While Microsoft officials continued to deny any connection between their decision not to endorse the bill and the church's opposition, the church’s pastor made the connection clear Thursday in a phone interview with the Times, saying he had threatened to organize a national boycott of Microsoft products during several rallies opposing same-sex marriage in Washington state and in Washington, D.C.Dow Jones:
After that, "they backed off," the pastor of the Antioch Bible Church said. "I told them I was going to give them something to be afraid of Christians about," he said.
The Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), 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 Washington state bill that would have barred discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the New York Times reported in its Friday editions.Advocate
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