Microsoft calls for Gay Marriage in Washington State

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/microsoft-calls-for-gay-marriage-in-washington-state/251680/

by e1ven • 15 years ago

98 50 15 years ago

theatlantic.com

Serentiynow• 15 years ago

This is great. Discrimination makes me sick to my stomach.

hunterjrj• 15 years ago

Somewhere, Alan Turing applauds.

geogra42• 15 years ago

Turing's story is especially heartbreaking. Imagine what another 30-40 years of Alan Turing's genius would have done for computation.

jgrahamc• 15 years ago

Given that Turing was working on morphogenesis towards the end of his life, a life that had already covered computation, code breaking, and artificial intelligence, I think the more interesting question is what would Turing have decided to work on given a few more decades. It might not have been computing.

caryme• 15 years ago

I'm graduating this June and starting work full-time at Microsoft in August. I'm gay and my boyfriend is moving to Seattle with me, where we're planning on getting a domestic partnership and would like to get married down the road.

Microsoft's efforts to create a truly equal workplace and community for me played a significant role on my decision to accept an offer there (note: I don't say this at the exclusion of other companies who make similar efforts).

technoslut2• 15 years ago

I have no doubt that MS believes in having the best workers possible, regardless of their sexual orientation. I congratulate you for getting a good job.

What I do find interesting is that the Republican Party is becoming more fundamentalist as time and elections go on, especially when both Ballmer and Gates are Republican.

They're not Christian fundamentalists but they do happen to vote that way due to business issues.

pearle• 15 years ago

I'm not that educated regarding the accuracy of this website but perhaps others can comment on it.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/biography/bill_gates.asp

geogra42• 15 years ago

I don't know about Ballmer, but is Gates a republican? According to [0] he donates more to D than to R, although not by a great margin

[0] http://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/

untog2• 15 years ago

Whether or not Ballmer or Gates are supporters, the Republican Party's shift towards fundamentalism is not supported by all of their base. The number of votes for Ron Paul in the primaries show that there is a sizable base still interested in small government and minimal taxes.

I honestly do believe we'll see a third party (be it Fundamentalist of Libertarian, depending on who 'wins' the Republicans) with a decade or two. The outcome of this coming election (whether Romney wins, and how the party reacts) could be a deciding factor.

jfruh• 15 years ago

Every election cycle I think, this is the year that the big business/libertarian and social conservative/religious wings of the Republican parties finally break up, but it keeps not happening, though I think it's the dynamic behind the let's-find-a-not-Romney weird surges that have been happening throughout the GOP campaign so far this year. Bizarrely, Gingrich, who has a certain amount of cred in both camps, might be the compromise candidate of both wings, and if he goes down in flames in the general (as he almost certainly would) it could speed that divorce.

On the other hand, the US's first-past-the-post election system makes a multi-party system pretty difficult to maintain, so who knows.

Craiggybear3• 15 years ago

Congratulations on the new job and new life.

I sincerely wish you the very best with both.

serge2k3• 15 years ago

Congrats. Hope everything works out for you two.

cleverjake2• 15 years ago

Google has been extremely pro gay rights for a while (forever?) and it has worked out quite well for what it seems. Bully for both of them, it's a great move, both as. Company and people with basic humanity.

ryanmolden• 15 years ago

So has Microsoft, this isn't exactly a new stance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_and_Lesbian_Employees_at_Mi...

cleverjake2• 15 years ago

Oh I know, I lived a couple miles from Redmond for most of my life. I just pointed out another large company that had a similar mindset. Sorry if that came off as Microsoft jumping on a bandwagon or anything.

ck22• 15 years ago

Oh come on - do we need logic arguments to convince people it's the right thing to do?

Why is separate-yet-equal acceptable for any human being?

It's a disgusting, ignorant attitude. Society needs to grow up.

Do detractors think there should be separate water fountains for gays at work too?

corin_• 15 years ago

I couldn't work out if I was upset that they were using business as the reason not human rights, or if I was pleased that they had figured out a way to help push for the right thing. Still not sure, really.

ck22• 15 years ago

If I understand it correctly, history is repeating itself in that some business also helped push for rights in the 1950s, ie. serving everyone at the same lunch counter at some stores even though it was illegal at the time.

The difference is this time at least people aren't being beaten and killed over this (at least not in mass).

But it does not help at all when the President of the United States says that gay rights are okay when they need fresh bodies for the wars to kill and be killed but on gay marriage "well he's still not convinced". It boggles my mind.

JS_startup2• 15 years ago

Framing civil rights in a logical or business argument is the smartest avenue of approach, especially in the US. Moral or human rights arguments can easily be dismissed by religion, but an economic or practical argument?

Plus Microsoft would probably be sued by its shareholders if they didn't give a good, strategic decision for taking an overtly political position.

Timothee• 15 years ago

My first thought when reading the title was similar: "well, what about pushing it just because it's the right thing to do?" (admittedly, the definition of "right" won't be universal…). But you have to remember that it's easier to use economic arguments with politicians.

If Microsoft were to say "we support gay marriage just because", politicians on the other side could just shrug and not take a risky stand for their re-election. By saying that they are having issues hiring top talent Microsoft is hinting that maybe, possibly not allowing gay marriage would mean that they'll be less competitive, thus less money for the state, less jobs, less economic activity, etc. which politicians respond to. Plus it gives politicians arguments to justify themselves: they don't have to then say "well, it's the right thing" and upset some people, but instead "I'm doing it for the economy".

tmh88j2• 15 years ago

Am I the only one that notices this seems to be the case with a lot of tech companies? It seems like most non-tech industries are still full of baby boomers who are far less accepting than the younger generations who make up these types of companies.

rmc3• 15 years ago

Yeah, technology and IT are quite liberal.

Craiggybear3• 15 years ago

Generally. There are still assholes in every walk of life. Good that they are being challenged more and more and hopefully, eventually their outrageous prejudices will no longer have anywhere left to hide.

cobrausn• 15 years ago

I tend to think technology and IT are more pragmatic than liberal, but I believe it doesn't matter anyway - it probably has more to do with the social norms of a generation. Technology and IT are full of young people. There is higher support for gay marriage among the young in Mississippi than among the old in Massachusetts (if I'm remembering that statistic I read correctly). Expect tension over this issue to evaporate as time goes on.

coderdude2• 15 years ago

In 50 years it'll be robosexual marriage. Then 20 years later it'll be gay robosexual marriage (yes, I like my Futurama). I really hope we can get this issue with who-can-marry-who resolved before we get to that point.

Edit: In 70 years these down-votes will be seen as ignorant and intolerant, you apes.

johnpmayer• 15 years ago

I'm sure you remember this http://qntm.org/gay

fennecfoxen2• 15 years ago

No, the next thing be polygamy.

(You might reasonably think that is just something delusional fundamentalists cry to make a slippery-slope argument, because it is something they cry to make a slippery-slope argument, but if you hang around the right parts of the world - e.g. certain corners of San Francisco or the Internet - it's not very hard to see that it's at least plausible. The interpretation of the validity or invalidity of these potential developments and society's possible reactions to it are left as an exercise to the reader, however.)

coderdude2• 15 years ago

The general point I was trying to make was that something will succeed this as the next big fight for rights and that it would be related to marriage, so people who oppose these unions should just take the smart exit and stop fighting it.

nsxwolf• 15 years ago

I really don't understand what's wrong with polygamy. It seems good liberal minded people should support it.

You could perhaps put some reasonable upper bound on the number of people that could enter into such a marriage, so people can't abuse it to form absurdly large tax shelters, but how can anyone justify denying 3 or 4 people the right to be married?

What's so magical about the number 2?

mgkimsal2• 15 years ago

Don't you ever listen to the right wing? The 'next thing' will be people marrying their dogs, then their toasters. It's so obvious where this slippery slope will lead :)

jbigelow76• 15 years ago

I think a few horror stories of what happens when a man tries to consummate his marriage to a toaster without checking to see if it has been unplugged will de-grease that particular slippery slope.

johnohara• 15 years ago

I think this has more to do with being able to offer competitive employment benefits than it does with any kind of social or political philosophy.

Seattle's 13% LBGT population is second only to SF (15%). Attracting talent north is a practical matter.

mgkimsal2• 15 years ago

Any "gay marriage" bills should have been argued as "jobs bills". At the very least, by not voting against gay marriage, you are hurting people in the wedding industry (photographers, fashion, bakers, halls, etc).

Never understood why that angle was not brought up against hardcore republican/conservative voters - the type who are usually all "pro jobs/work/smallbusiness" types. Perhaps because it makes sense, and logic/reason isn't typically being employed by people when the "gay marriage" legislation topic floats around.

tzs• 15 years ago

It should be noted that Washington does currently provide registered domestic partnerships, which provide nearly all of the legal benefits of marriage. The last expansion of the domestic partnership laws was basically an "everything but marriage" bill. Here are some of the things covered:

   Health care decision making and visitation
   Inheritance and other death-related stuff
   Spousal immunity in court
   Community property
   Domestic violence laws apply
   Tax breaks on property transfers between the partners
   Veteran benefits
   Sick leave can be used to care for partner
   Adoption, child custody, and child support same as marriage

Same sex marriages from other states are treated as Washington domestic partnerships.

Note: I'm not suggesting that this means there is no need for marriage. Just pointing out that Washington is already very gay friendly.

serge2k3• 15 years ago

so quit with the bs and just let people get married.

api• 15 years ago

Global economic meritocracy: the way social conservatism dies.

Socially conservative or otherwise authoritarian societies always find themselves on the losing side of the brain drain equation.

Microsoft calls for Gay Marriage in Washington State

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