The Republic of T. - The MicroSoft Mess (from: PubSub: Scoble)
http://www.republicoft.com/index.php/archives/2005/04/24/the-microsoft-mess/
Weblog: The Republic of T.Source: The MicroSoft Mess
Link: http://www.republicoft.com/index.php/archives/2005/04/24/the-microsoft-mess/
Intersting. Going through my RSS feeds, I came across Robert Scoble’s response to Steve Balmer’s memo on MicroSoft’s retreat on the WA gay rights bill. Scoble also links to a post from Adam Barr critiquing part of Balmer’s memo. Barr doesn’t quite buy the part of Balmer’s memo that suggests MicroSoft was worried that its anti-gay employees might feel discriminated against because of MicroSoft’s previous stance on the bill. Will companies now start opting for neutrality on civil rights issues, as Vic Goduntora’s response to Scoble suggests? Is that a good thing?
In my experience, corporate America has been one of the gay communities greatest allies in the fight against discrimination. (It’s one of the the issues I worked on during my time at HRC; my first job in D.C.) Check out HRC’s database of employees with non-discrimination policies, and the list of corporations and small businesses endorsing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Passing ENDA seems to be an uphill battle even with corporate support. If our biggest allies remain personally supportive, but become publicly and politically neutral, are we actually losing our biggest allies? What good is personal or private support that doesn’t translate into public and political support? And should we do anything but wave goodbye as our allies distance themselves from us publically and politically?
Glancing at the feed from my Technorati references, I came across this post on Snarkmarket, which puts an interesting spin on the controversy surrounding MicroSoft and Washington state’s gay rights bill.
While I don’t know that there are any progressives out there who want corporations to have no voice in civil affairs, I do think this is a matter best decided by the Washington state legislature, not Microsoft. A solid, coherent progressive strategy on this front might be to say, “Oh, so you’re withdrawing your voice on legislation now? How about you dial down your attacks on some of these antitrust laws then?” I have a sneaky suspicion that using this to rally for Microsoft’s greater withdrawal from public affairs would have a more positive effect than excoriating them for dooming this bill.
It’s not Microsoft’s fault that employers can still discriminate against gays in Washington, it’s the fault of the legislature. Let’s not forget that.
Yesterday I had a chat with a friend via IM, during which he suggested that people might be overreacting to this whole MicroSoft thing, running the risk of alienting one of the gay communities long-time corporate allies.
So I’m asking, how should people respond to this? Obviously, it’s a disappointment that’s made that much worse by the reality that right afterwards the gay rights bill—which gays in Washington have been trying to pass for three decades—failed by one vote.
For my part, I think the gay community—after some crushing defeats in the the last election, and watching the country drift further right—is at a point where it seems even our friends are not our friends in the current political landscape. In the case of MicroSoft, we’re talking a long term friend of the community that seems to have bailed for reasons that, on their face, seem rather weak.
So, what’s the best response? Shrug it off and come back next year?