Eye On Microsoft: Red State Retribution

A lot has been written both in the mainstream media and online about Microsoft's reversal on the state of Washington's gay rights bill and Seattlest would like to add to the din provide a few links here. The short of it is that Microsoft had been getting resounding cheers from across the land (and on the web) for supporting House Bill 1515, an anti-discrimination bill, until the 11th hour when it withdrew its support for the bill and it died in Olympia. Critics say that it was pressure from the Right, including from pastor Ken Hutcherson, that brought about the sudden change of heart.

Microsoft Cheese Steve Balmer issued this email to the calm the ruffled flock in Redmond.

When our government affairs team put together its list of its legislative priorities in Olympia before the Legislative Session began in January, we decided to focus on a limited number of issues that are more directly related to our business such as computer privacy, education, and competitiveness. The anti-discrimination bill was not on this list and as a result Microsoft was not actively supporting the bill in the Legislature this year, although last year we did provide a letter of support for similar legislation.

Also see this article in The Stranger, this great PI column and various voices from the 'sphere.