Stop Tiptoeing Around the Radical Right!
Microsoft recently bowed to pressure from a local church (the Antioch Bible Church) and its pastor Ken ("Hutch") Hutcherson to stop supporting local legislation that would have put a statute on the books forbidding anti-gay discrimination in Washington State. ("Hutch" is an ex pro-football player and powerful figure in politics in the Redmond, Washington area.)
In a company-wide email, CEO Steve Ballmer explained that he and Bill Gates supported the legislation personally. However, as one blogger quoted in the NY Times coverage put it, the company didn't want to offend the religious right.
Here's New York Times coverage of the affair. Microsoft's change of heart on the anti-gay discrimination legislation is not surprising considering the bloating and beaurocratization of the arterioslerotic Microsoft I blogged recently. This company wants to keep out of trouble.
Another somewhat humorous marker of the changing times was the "resignation" (or firing) of the head of PBS over the creation of an episode of the children's show Postcards from Buster. In the episode, Buster the bunny rabbit visits a lesbian couple. Here's an interview with the new PBS director, who would like to appeal to more conservative viewers.
It's high time to stop tiptoeing around the religious right. For starters, let's drop calling the Bush-Cheney gang "conservatives." They're not (a conservative doesn't want fast change). They're radicals, with an agenda of theocracy and more than a whiff of facism. Stop them before it is too late!
Posted by Harold Davis at April 24, 2005 09:33 AM
