More 'Soft

Today's Seattle Times notes that the gay rights bill failed to pass in the Washington legislature. Two conservative Democrats voted along with the Republicans to defeat the bill. In a side article - buried on the last page of the first section of the paper - Microsoft answers charges made in The Stranger article that I linked to yesterday. To recap, Microsoft is accused of bowing to political pressure by a conservative minister by not supporting the gay rights bill as it had done for the 2 previous years. In the Seattle Times article, Microsoft's spokesperson nitpicks the details and ignores the more relevant portion of the facts: that they are no longer supporting the bill.

I really don't care if The Stranger through it's legitimate reporting got the details right about the minister and the timeline of the decision making process from Microsoft. What I do care about is Microsoft turning their backs on their employees and a large number of customers - regardless of how they came to that decision. Microsoft, your feet should still be held to the fire on this. Other companies such as Corbis (in state example) and Ford Motor Company (large, old, out of state example) have continued to support such measures. You should be a community leader.