microsoft caves to bigots

Just now read about this..

Microsoft apparently pulled its support, at the last minute, for a Washington state LBGT-related anti-discrimination bill after receiving pressure from a locally prominent anti-gay evangelist. Americablog reports the bill lost by one vote.

From Americablog:

What we may have just witnessed over the past 24 hours is the beginning of a business backlash against gays and our civil rights as Americans. The attacks started years ago from the religious right, worked its way into the US presidency and the Congress, and then down into the states. And now, America's top corporations - businesses who we counted as our friends - are offering us up for slaughter.

Shame on Microsoft. It had the chance to stand up and show the country that you can do well by doing good. But instead it sat by and shut up while our civil rights went down in flames. And yes, Microsoft was great on gay rights issues in the past. But that's all the more reason to be confused and troubled by their actions today, and all the more reason to be concerned, very concerned, that this is a sign of more betrayals to come from Microsoft, and those businesses who now choose to follow the prejudiced precedent that Microsoft just set.

Of course I can't even pretend to be surprised that corporations would "offer us up for slaughter". And yet I think a part of me wanted to believe the free market theorists who claimed that corporations would be good for tolerance and diversity in an effort to attract intellectual talent, loyalty, and new customer bases. The reality is that they tend to play into the hands of whomever they believe will be in a position to grant them favor -- not only now, but just over the horizon of the immediately foreseeable future. Gambling on the probable winners in politics is just another form of investment. The company I work for made pre-election campaign contributions to just about every winner in the last election, including Bush and including Barack Obama.

I guess my point isn't so much that this could be read as a sign of corporate America turning against the diversity that some of its denizens have supported over the past 10 or so years, but that this very turning could be read as a sign of who's going to be in power for quite some time.

No real surprise there either, I suppose.

Maybe there is one very thin silver lining -- if the heavy corporate sponsorship drops (or even wanes) from gay pride parades, gay pride parades could become fun again.

Looks like it's time to read up on Linux.