Microsoft Views

In response to the Wall
Street Journal ’s request for
views on whether
Microsoft should back leg-
islation protecting homo-
sexual rights:

I can understand a
company staying clear of
issues that management has
not already addressed in
the workplace. But the
refusal to take a public
stand where an internal one
has already been made,
looks like cowardice or
hypocrisy. to me. I think
Microsoft was right to
rescind their recent refusal
to support the Washington
bill banning workplace dis-
crimination against homo-
sexuals.

It was obvious that
their reluctance to support
the bill had nothing to do
with company policy and
everything to do with the
strong-arm tactics of Ken

Hutcherson, the American — '

Family Association and
Focus on the Family.

It is shameful that
Washington State could not
pass a bill banning discrim-
ination in the workplace. It
is shameful that it took an
outpouring of outraged
emails and blogs from
employees to remind
Microsoft of the principles
it has long implemented
and which have helped the
company achieve its enor-
mous success.

Integrity is not
easy. Sometimes integrity
is costly. But there is no
substitute for integrity, and
once compromised, it is
very hard to repair. Let us
hope Microsoft's manage-
ment team has learned that
lesson in this debacle.

Linda Markin, CFO
Concept2, Inc.
Morrisville

George W. is Right
What if President Bush
was right just as former
President Ronald Reagan
was right? That thought
strikes terror in the hearts v
of so many gays who have
become anti—war and hope
disaster rules in the War in
Iraq.
‘ But a flood of good

At Witt’s End

   

 

C C ‘- ‘
‘gfw“§C.¢
0

news is swamping Teddy
Kennedy, Michael Moore,
Barbara Boxer, John Kerry
and most of Gay America.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia,

’ Ukraine, and the

Palestinian territories have
new popularly elected gov-

‘ ernments. Egypt is plan-

ning free elections and
even Saudi Arabia has
made tentative steps
toward democracy. Libya
has abandoned its nuclear
program, Pakistan has
stopped exporting nuclear
secrets and has moved

.\

   
 

make. can‘1"5‘/

troops into its border areas
to hunt down terrorists, and
the Gulf states have cor-
ralled hundreds of terror-
ists. Syria is facing
demands to withdraw from
Lebanon from the United
States, France _and the rest
of Europe.

This wave of
democracy is similar to the
1991 fall of the Berlin Wall
that liberated hundreds of
millions in Eastern Europe,
the Old Soviet Union and
Central America thanks to
the courageous internation-

 
   

Leah Witt nberg

wr1TE'IlBe£C> @ D5"

 

letters

al leadership of Ronal~
Reagan. Yet, most of 6 y
America refuses to cele-
brate either event despite
the fact that Reagan’s and
Bush’s leadership directly
liberated millions of gay
people across the globe.
Yes, with the outbreak of
democracy gay people of
all ethnicities became freer
to express themselves,
socialize and build their
own subcultures.

It is sad that so
many Gay Americans are
unable to see that when
almost the entire human
race becomes liberated
from criminal tyranny and
dictatorships, gay people
are also freer. It seems that
so many gay activists are
so blinded by hate that they
have abandoned intellectu-
al honesty.

What’s good for the
United States and Mr. Bush
is bad for the Gay
Democrats who want to
dominate our culture. Mr.
Bush was right to invade
Iraq, and the Gay _
Democrats are still having
trouble processing that.

Matthew Veritas Tsien
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Matthew Veritas Tsien is
vice-president of the

Florida Gold Coast Log

Cabin Republicans.

Correction: Writer
Cathy Resmer let me know

that contrary to m asser— ,

tion in last months editori-
al, Seven Days did provide
coverage of t e Translating
Identity Conference in a
300—word article witha
gléhoto of speaker Leslie
einberg ~ EB