Microsoft Will Support Gay-Rights Bill

In a turnaround Friday, Microsoft Corp. chief executive
Steve Ballmer said the company will support gay rights
legislation.

Ballmer made the announcement in an e-mail to employees two
weeks after gay rights activists accused the company of
withdrawing its support for an anti-discrimination bill in
its home state after an evangelical pastor threatened to
launch a national boycott.

The bill died by a single vote in the state Senate in late
April. "After looking at the question from all sides, I've
concluded that diversity in the workplace is such an
important issue for our business that it should be included
in our legislative agenda," Ballmer wrote.

The bill that failed in the state Legislature would have
banned discrimination against gays in housing, employment
and insurance. Microsoft had supported the measure in the
past, but more recently took a neutral stance.

Critics of Microsoft called it a corporate coward, and a
major gay rights group, the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center
in Los Angeles, asked the company to return a civil rights
award it had bestowed on Microsoft four years ago. The
group withdrew its demand after Ballmer's turnaround.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign,
the nation's largest gay rights group, said Microsoft
"did the right thing and has come down squarely on the
side of fairness for all employees."

Late last month, Ballmer said the company had decided to
take a neutral stance on the bill and focus instead on a
shorter list of legislative priorities that had a
more direct impact on the company's software business.

He said that decision was made well before executives met
with the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of a Redmond church
who has organized anti-gay-marriage rallies.

The voice mail Friday at Hutcherson's church did not allow
for messages, and a call to an emergency assistance number
went unanswered. There is no listing for his home.