Fresh off the resolution of a boycott crisis, Bay Windows has another great editorial: Our Problems Are Bigger than Microsoft. The lede says it all: “The thing that makes the Microsoft story so maddening is that despite the fact that Microsoft is an evil company, it’s our evil company.” Susan Ryan-Vollmar goes on to analyze why a standard-bearer in progressive policy toward its gay employees could pull its punches when gay rights came up for discussion in the Washington legislature. It was more than one football-player-turned preacher. “[I]f it’s true that a $35 billion-plus mega-corporation like Microsoft can be cowed by a second-string fundie like Hutcherson,” she writes,
we have a much bigger problem on our hands than trying to learn a new word processing program. It means our battle isn’t just with the reality of homophobia, it’s with the perception that there’s an army of anti-gay “values” voters out there just itching to beat back progress. We know how to deal with homophobia. But it’s another matter altogether to convince our allies that that which they fear the most isn’t real.
Indeed we do have a much bigger problem. But she’s missing one major factor here. I can’t get into the minds of the folks at Microsoft on this issue, but I highly suspect they’re less worried about values voters than they are concerned about the prospect that Republican lawmakers will punish socially liberal corporations (particularly those in a politically “swing” industry like technology) by imposing a less favorable regulatory environment. The GOP has been kind to Microsoft, especially by softening the anti-trust action taken under Clinton, but it’s possible that future lobbying goals of the company could be compromised if the Republicans feel that Microsoft a) crusades for causes they see as immoral or b) supports causes identified with “the other side”. Microsoft knows this and is hedging its position.
What they fear is real. At the very least - pace the Log Cabin Republicans and few progressive GOP members like Weld - this episode is a reminder that which political party is in power has ripple effects for the way that gay rights are treated in the political sphere.
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