Repentance in Redmond?
I read today that Microsoft has now apparently reversed its position and will be supporting state and federal anti-discrimination legislation in the future. Per Steve Ballmer's announcement May 6:
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.
Given the importance of diversity to our business, it is appropriate for the company to endorse legislation that prohibits employment discrimination on all of these grounds.
Score one for liberty, zero for the fundamentalists?
Not yet. Evangelicals are of course pouting that Microsoft is being 'whipped around by homosexuals'. I love how when they get their way it's always the work of God, whereas any time there is even the smallest victory for gay civil rights it's the work of some sinister 'homosexual agenda'. If only we really were as powerful as the right claims, what a different world it would be.
Read between the lines, however, and you'll see that Microsoft is mincing its words very carefully, still trying to have a bet each way. Make concessions to the gays, but not so overtly as to draw major ire from the fundamentalists. I don't think Microsoft is as 'politically naive' as some gay activists are claiming.
Not convinced? The word 'gay' doesn't appear once in the statement. If you weren't aware of the issue you would have no idea what the statement is talking about. 'Diversity' is used nine times, but what does Microsoft mean by the word? According to Ballmer, diversity means 'mutual respect', and in the context used here he means between gay Microsoft employees and anti-gay Microsoft employees. The right to a discrimination-free workplace is a notion that should be respected by religious employees, while at the same time gay employees should also respect religious employees' beliefs (that gays are an abomination and should be denied such rights).
This is not diversity, it is a shrewd attempt at moral equivalence. Microsoft is having its fairy cake and eating it too. They will, of course, do and say whatever is expedient and whatever is in the company's long term best interests. Try to accommodate the fags, try to accommodate the right. Everyone should just try to get along so that Microsoft can get on with the more 'important work' of churning out an 'exciting set of products'. Diversity is really just a tagline to their corporate mission statement.