Microsoft rethinks its stand on gay rights
Diversity is a key workplace issue, its workers are told
BY ELIZABETH GILLESPIE
The Associated Press


SEATTLE -- After Microsoft was denounced for dropping support for a gay-rights bill in its home state, CEO Steve Ballmer told employees Friday that the company would publicly back such legislation in the future.

Ballmer's e-mail came two weeks after activists accused the company of caving to pressure from a pastor who had threatened to launch a nationwide boycott of the company.