It turns out the anti-gay Seattle minister who met twice with Microsoft officials and threatened the company over its support for a gay rights bill is black, as presumably are at least some members of his congregation/Microsoft employees whom the company cited as lobbying against its pro-gay stance. Why does this matter (and why was the press amiss in leaving it out of earlier reports)? Because it could help explain Microsoft's decision to shift into "neutral" on the legislative issue - with executives feeling pulled between two minorities, both with "diversity" claims.
Update 1: In the comments area, "Remy"
writes:
While Gates and Ballmer would have had no truck whatsoever with a white anti-gay bigot, they let Microsoft have two meetings with this guy. Why? Because they are very sensitive to being perceived as a group of privileged whites who don't pay enough respect to blacks. The far right has become very shrewd about using the race card against gays, and MS fell right into the trap.
As for the media not reporting the preacher was black, that's certainly true of the gay media reports. I understand they don't want to be seen as inflaming prejudice, but they missed the story on the role that "the race card" played. How can we respond to the race card if we're not allowed to be informed that's it part of the game?
I agree.
Update 2: Microsoft now
backs the gay rights bill. Notes the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer:
some say Microsoft's recent indecisiveness could hurt the company's image or - worse yet - make it susceptible to future attacks from special interest groups.
Angry gays, in this case, trump angry anti-gays. For
now...