Interesting point...especially because the microsoft HQ is in WA.
I believe that Gates/Ballmer may have just given the token amount to get the gay activists off their back.
I know Gates is a leftie, but I don't think he's as much of a leftie as these other fruities. And Ballmer splits his political donations 50/50.
Anyway, Microsoft is just the OS so one could run linux if they really wanted to be "pure".