Letters to the Editor
Microsoft
Views
In response to the Wall Street Journal's
request for views on whether Microsoft should back legislation protecting
homosexual 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 discrimination against homosexuals.
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 discrimination 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 enormous 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 management 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 of so many gays who have become anti-war and hope disaster
rules in the War in Iraq.
But a flood of good 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 governments. Egypt is planning 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 troops into its border areas to hunt down terrorists,
and the Gulf states have corralled hundreds of terrorists. 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
international leadership of Ronald Reagan. Yet, most of Gay America refuses
to celebrate 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 intellectual 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.