Microsoft Abandons Gay Rights Bill

andrewagill writes "Microsoft has withdrawn support from a bill that would "protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in employment, housing, banking, insurance, and other matters by adding sexual orientation to a state law which already bars discrimination" of the other usual suspects. Odd, given their previous accolades from the GLBT community, and their prior public support for the bill."

That's pretty gay

[Anonymous Coward]

And I don't mean in the homosexual way... but in the bad at sports way.

Uh...

[sjrstory]

Anyone else read this as Microsoft Abandons Gay Bill?

But

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows is still gay.

They are beginning to see...

[Anonymous Coward]

...Mac OS X as a threat (rightly, in my opinion), so they are now attacking the problem at the source.

Wrong angle

[chill]

What bothers me is that one corporate entity seemingly has so much influence over the legislative process. Specifically, a law that is totally unrelated to their industry.

I understand the RIAA/MPAA and Copyright legislation, but Microsoft and Gay Rights? WTF?

Now, instead of "Write Your Congressman!" are we supposed to call MS Tech Support?

-Charles

Apple Stickers

[Anne_Nonymous]

I guess Bill was pissed about all those rainbow Apple stickers from the 80's showing up on his car.

Alternative Headline:

[CaryTheSane]

Bill Bails on Gay Bill.

Re:Could it be that business interests...

[tomhudson]

Of course. They're worried about competition from lesbian linux [lesbian.mine.nu].

Microsoft?

[bill_mcgonigle]

To listen to the commentary here, the gay community is entirely using Apple computers.

You take that back!

[RatBastard]

Windows is still gay.

You take that back! You take that back right now! How DARE you insult homosexuals like that!

Re:Uh...

[Jakeypants]

Well, I made a similar mistake. I thought Gay Rights Bill was a new Microsoft mascot that went the way of Bob.

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[override11]

Guy + Guy = Bad Girl + Guy = Normal Girl + Girl = good (its perfectly natural) Cant they just make guy on guy luvin illegal?

Re:Entirely Predictable

[hey]

So you are saying:
they are whores with no principles.

I agree.

Re:Wrong.

[garcia]

You truly are nuts if you took what I said to be anything other than blantant sarcasm.

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[AviLazar]

Girl + Guy + Girl = (as my lesbian hippy friend says) "Dreamy"

Wants to Weasle out of Contract

[lilmouse]

100 posts in, and you still haven't given the obvious answer to this!

What does he have on Bill? Well, when the head of MS starts desperately following bizarre orders from Evangelicals, you realize he's gotta be looking for allies. My guess is, his contract is expiring soon, and he's looking for a loophole.

Now, we know Satan's contracts are even tighter than MS's, so Bill's trying to get some extra-judicial help. That's all.

--LWM

Re:They are beginning to see...

[NanoGator]

"...Mac OS X as a threat (rightly, in my opinion), so they are now attacking the problem at the source."

Oh, enough with the FUD. Just because OSX was built from eunuchs doesn't mean that it appeals only to gays!

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[Anonymous Coward]

wow, for a moment there i swore you were saying 2 guys equals a bad girl..

**shiver**

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[eno2001]

I, for one, champion the rights of 3M1C (three men and a cat) marriages! In this day and age, the artificial limits we impose on sexuality vis-a-vis marriage should be done away with completely. However, I will say that there should be strict laws regarding Republicans and Libertarians. They should be restricted to non-sexual cohabitation rights with members of the same sex only. This will eventually eliminate them from the gene pool. Thank you very much.

Man am I thirsty!

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[learn fast]

Thank god. I for one can't go anywhere without certainly gay people peering at me in the most odd way.

I've installed locks on all my doors and windows so those goddamned gays can't sneak in and get up to no good. One look at those pillows, your curtains and you know you've been hit by the gays.

I've tried to do my part in my community by trying to keep tabs on them. I've taken some surveillance at the local YMCA. I've swept the mall and tried on some red swimware. Yet gay people keep decidedly peering at me in the most peculiar way.

We must stop the gay conspiracy and the gay media conspiracy, with their forced-redecoration squads running amok, frightening children and installing remarkably tasteful yet a little too frilly curtain vestments on every doorway and awning in this whole country. They want to take away our rights, to have our own curtains. The gay media conspiracy keeps a lid on it, however.

I urge you to ban gay marriage/civil unions in your state or your curtains may be next!

Re:Gay bashing has been legitizimized in Bush's US

[Anonymous Coward]

You care about how your parents have sex?! You're one sick bastard!

How the hell...

[Begemot]

...micro and soft becomes an expert in sexuality?

I'm kinda glad that this happened.

[kid_icarus75]

Who would really want thousands of Evangelical Christians switching over to Linux anyways? I don't want to use a mail client called "Creationism."

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[Mysticalfruit]

Need I say more? http://www.tshirthell.com/store/product.php?produc tid=286 [tshirthell.com]

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[HyoImowano]

It'll be curtains for you, see? Nyaaa see!? NYYAAAAAAH!

Teh Sun ruined my grammer

[t_allardyce]

Did anyone read this like a tabloid line: Microsoft abandons Bill Gates because hes pro-gay-rights?

I think most of Europe has gay-rights discrimination laws but we're just a bunch of stoners and drunks...

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[cayenne8]

"Girl + Girl = good (its perfectly natural)"

As long as there is a straight guy in the room with them running the video camera......and they're both good looking...

:-D

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[Rs_Conqueror]

Lets take a look at that statement shall we?

Here you say::

Homosexuality is neither a choice (that's long ago been proven scientifically), nor is it particularly a disability.

Therefore homosexuality is genetic.

And yet here you say::

There is no reason that discrimination on the basis of sexual preference should be permissable.

Therefore homosexuality is a preference. But wait! Didn't you just say it was scientifically proven to be genetic? Get your story straight and come back to me later.

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[tomhudson]

I've swept the mall and tried on some red swimware. Yet gay people keep decidedly peering at me in the most peculiar way.

Dude, it's not just the gays looking at you funny in those red swim trunks. When you tried to "enhance your manhood", you put the tennis balls in the back of the trunks instead of the front. You looked freaking scary!

What is M$ afraid of?

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean, it's not like the Evangelical Church is going to suddenly switch to FreeBSD, what with it's Devil mascot and all!

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[Col. Blackwolf]

I have a helluva lot of female friends who think so anyway. Girl-on-girl is hot to many guys, but a lot of girls (that I know at least) are just as turned on by guy-on-guy as guys are by girl-on-girl.

Most of the girls I know think that that's a waste of 2 perfectly good guys attention that could be focussed on them instead. Preferably at the same time ;)

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[mad.frog]

At the aquarium where I work we have a gay domestic couple of penguins.

Obligatory Daily Show quote: "Just because it happens in nature, does not make it natural, buster!"

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[Xtifr]

According to America (the book) by John Stewart, et al.:

1. A

judicial activist sees the Constitution as a living document that can be adapted and re-interpreted to protect the needs of a changing society, such as "marriage between sodomites" and "impulse abortions."

2. A strict constructionist interpets the Constitution according to the language and original intent of the text at the time of its writing, in much the same way as a fundamentalist views the Bible. Fortunately for strict constructionists, they have been endowed by God with the super-human gift of being able to read the minds of people who died 200 years ago. Naturally, they use this power only for good.

HTH, HAND :)

And you know why...

[The Woodworker]

If you're queer, you buy a Mac. It's all about color coordination.

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[yali]

At the aquarium where I work we have a gay domestic couple of penguins... It's really cool.

Be careful turning to nature for guidance as to what is morally acceptable, lest you be cornered into defending nonstop drake-on-drake necrophilia [www.nmr.nl]. Better to just say "I'm cool with that" than to turn to avian examples.

Re:Fuck the Church and Its Moral Values

[nsayer]

I was quite pleased the Pope passed away; he truly deserved that.

Deserved what? To live to a ripe old age and die of natural causes and be mourned by a quarter of the planet's population when he was gone? Hell, I'll take a helping of that too, please.

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[StikyPad]

Federal law assignes some 1,080 benefits to married couples.

If they're willing to put up with years and years of misery just for some so-called federal benefits, I say let 'em. They have just as much a right to be unhappy as the rest of us.

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[Stween]

Most of the girls I know think that that's a waste of 2 perfectly good guys attention that could be focussed on them instead. Preferably at the same time ;)You're referring to the girls you see on a daily basis -- the ones in the dirty movies -- aren't you?

Good news for Apple?

[SirBruce]

Maybe millions of GLBT and GLBT-friendly computer users will boycott Microsoft and start buying Macs?

Bruce

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[uberdave]

At the aquarium... we have... penguins. It's really cool.

I would hope so. Penguins are a polar species. "Really cool" is what their natural environment is all about.

Re:NO, IT IS NOT THE SAME MARKET

[ifwm]

"The gay/lesbian market is a hell of a lot more computer literate than the zombies in the Religious Right" Proof? Of course not.

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[vsprintf]

Unless this preacher is able to get his followers to switch to Macs or spend a few months learning to run GNU/Linux, then he has no real clout on this issue.

Gott mit SuSE. (Sorry, I couldn't help but recall some recent celebrations or resist the straight line - double groaner.)

Re:*Democracy* at work

[flyingsquid]

Gay marriage is already law in many provinces now, but it is be voted federally soon.

And just look at what's happened to Canada! Total chaos! Two dollar coins, people speaking in French, and decriminalized marijuana! I hear there are even places where polar bears roam the streets at will- is THAT the kind of cesspool of degeneracy we want America to become? Tastefully decorated, perhaps, but at the cost of being overrun by polar bears and stoned French separatists?

Re:NO, IT IS NOT THE SAME MARKET

[flyingsquid]

A typical fundie told to boycott MS? Does this person even own a computer? If yes... do you see him switching to Apple?

Well, lets see... (1) Apple Computer had a rainbow striped logo for years, (2) they are based just outside of San Francisco, (3) they have suspiciously good taste, almost as if the OS and every piece of hardware was designed by interior decorators.

Something tells me that if the Christian fundamentalists get up in arms about Teletubbies and Spongebob being in cahoots with the homosexual conspiracy, they might have a little trouble accepting Apple. Plus, the company name is an allusion to Eve and the serpent, so they're obviously in league with Satan as well.

Re:What does he have on you, Bill?

[Anonymous Coward]

No no no no no...2 girls == less women for us men. We need to encourage male homosexuality and discourage female homosexuality to ensure that us true heteros have our share of women

_I_ think the bill was too specific

[leonbrooks]

Microsoft is a bit of a passion fingers. Maybe they want a bill which endorses anal rape between non-consenting (and often underage) companies? With whips, broken glass and upside down in a tub.

Gay penguins?

[Colonel Cholling]

At the aquarium where I work we have a gay domestic couple of penguins.

Which is the real reason Microsoft withdrew their support for gay rights.

Re: penguins

[Dr. GeneMachine]

So, let me summarize:
a) microsoft retracts its support for an antidiscrimination bill regarding homosexuals
b)penguins, on the other hand have TEH GAY and, as if this wasn't enough, are whoring and pimping sons-of-a-bitches.

Now, folks, the penguin is a common symbol, not to say heraldic animal for what? That's right, folks, we're talking bout linux here.
Am I the only one seeing the potential for new, unprecedented trolling and flaming? Ahhh, how I love the smell of napalm in the morning....