From the Apr 28 – May 4, 2005 issue

News

Gates-Gate

What You Can Do to Punish Microsoft for Abandoning Civil Rights

by John Aravosis

In the past year we've watched the radical right and their allies in the Bush administration grow increasingly bold as they attempt to impose their own warped vision of morality on the rest of America. Whether it's education (evolution out, creationism in), our relationships (promoting some marriages, banning others), an independent judiciary (attacks on "activist" judges), or our most personal decisions (Terri Schiavo), the political hubris of the religious right and their elected henchmen no longer knows any bounds.

Where is the progressive response?

Most of the traditional liberal groups are nowhere to be found. And when they do respond, it's with boring fact sheets and well-intentioned arguments about how we deserve to win, really we do. The left treats political battles as if they were high-school debates while the right wages total war.

And we are finally paying the price. We're no longer making progress, we're falling back. Our latest Waterloo: Microsoft.

Microsoft withdrew its support for the Washington State gay rights bill, legislation that lost in the Washington State Senate by only one vote. Microsoft's public relations flacks would like us to focus on whether or not Microsoft reversed its position to please one radical-right activist. But that discussion is a red herring. Microsoft didn't abandon years of support for gay civil rights merely because a single preacher complained. Something else influenced their decision, something far more dangerous. Microsoft caved in the face of an anti-gay and anti-left culture war that's been gaining ground for years. The pressure from the religious right was more than the company's senior management was willing to bear.

That is not to exonerate Microsoft. Plenty of corporate America's finest names, from Boeing to Nike, remained steadfast in their support for Washington's gay rights bill. Unlike Microsoft, those companies haven't turned their backs on fairness and equality.

At least not yet.

Microsoft's capitulation is a sign that the religious right has not only compromised our government, our schools, our media, and soon our courts, but they also are targeting corporate America. Of even greater concern is the message that Microsoft's capitulation sends to the rest of the business community. Whatever one thinks of Bill Gates, the man knows how to make money. If Bill Gates no longer thinks defending gays rights is good business, other corporate leaders will follow his lead.

Unless we get up and fight.

Too many people on the left think engaging in battle is beneath us--it's something a "Republican" would do, and we're so much better than that. But you don't have to fight dirty to fight back. You can beat the bejesus out of your opponent fairly. The alternative, not responding at all, or responding with a chorus of "Kumbaya," is no longer going to cut it.

So what should you do?

If you're a Microsoft employee who believes in equality, know that progressives stand with you, tell us how we can help, and raise hell from inside--protests, press conferences, leaks are all good.

If you're a gay rights group, grow a spine and fight back. We have to draw the line in the sand here, or other companies will soon follow Microsoft's lead. For inspiration, look to Equal Rights Washington, which demanded Microsoft fire $20,000-a-month consultant Ralph Reed (the former head of the Christian Coalition), and the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, which gave Microsoft a diversity award in 2001 and is now demanding it back.

Consider finally making the switch. The Mac mini at $500 is an affordable test-drive for anyone considering switching to Apple.

Switch web browsers. If you currently use Microsoft's Internet Explorer, use Mozilla's Firefox instead (www.mozilla.org). It's way better.

Contact Microsoft and bitch, loudly and often. Inundate your local papers with letters to the editor--they work. Every time you see a senior exec from Microsoft, give him or her an earful.

Stay tuned to AMERICAblog.org. We have more actions and more info coming soon.

Microsoft has been a leader in protecting and promoting equality for more than a decade, but now it has lost its way. Together we can get Bill Gates back on the right track.

John Aravosis is the editor of AMERICAblog.org.