
Microsoft calls for Gay Marriage in Washington State - e1ven
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/microsoft-calls-for-gay-marriage-in-washington-state/251680/
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caryme
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).

~~~
technoslut
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.

~~~
untog
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.

~~~
technoslut
Businesses will vote in their best interests. Both Ballmer and Gates grew up
in upper or wealthy middle class. They've always voted Republican.

> I honestly do believe we'll see a third party

Hopefully, but I was a former political junkie and third parties were never
elected.

~~~
semanticist
The third party of British politics - the Liberal Democrats - are currently in
power due to a coalition government, and this is under a FPTP system not a PR
system, so coalitions are uncommon.

For a Presidential election a coalition doesn't make sense, but you guys do
have other branches of government that could use a bit of a change.

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ck2
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_
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.

~~~
ck2
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.

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

No, not in mass. Still lots of people bullied into suicide though.

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tzs
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.

~~~
serge2k
so quit with the bs and just let people get married.

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

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_and_Lesbian_Employees_at_Mi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_and_Lesbian_Employees_at_Microsoft)

~~~
cleverjake
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.

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hunterjrj
Somewhere, Alan Turing applauds.

~~~
geogra4
Turing's story is especially heartbreaking. Imagine what another 30-40 years
of Alan Turing's genius would have done for computation.

~~~
jgrahamc
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.

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api
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.

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tmh88j
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.

~~~
rmc
Yeah, technology and IT are quite liberal.

~~~
Craiggybear
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.

~~~
tmh88j
I don't know if it's what you said as much as brainwashed religious folk who
are scared of change. I find it interesting how one can justify sexual
descrimination but not racial, as if you have any say in your genetics. Just
listening to Rick Santorum last night made me wodner if he believes in
separation of church and state.

~~~
rmc
_I find it interesting how one can justify sexual descrimination but not
racial_

He's a politician. Racial discrimination is not political acceptable. Sexual
Orientation Discrimination is political acceptable in some places.

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johnohara
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.

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

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mgkimsal
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.

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coderdude
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.

~~~
fennecfoxen
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.)

~~~
nsxwolf
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?

~~~
jonhendry
Personally, I have no problem with the idea of polygamy when it's, say, three
people from different backgrounds who found themselves in that kind of
relationship after meeting in college, or whatever.

It gets tricky when you consider the closed, fundamentalist Mormon sects and
similar cult like systems, where polygamy sometimes is wrapped up with sexual
abuse of children, etc.

Perhaps, if polygamy were legal, the isolated cultish groups could come out
from underground, allowing them to more easily obtain wives from outside the
group, which might reduce problems with the kids. But it might be too
ingrained at this point.

I'm not sure how best to allow the first case, while not encouraging the
persistence of the latter case.

