While many people can state that they have taken actions to influence legislation or important issues, Jeff can say that he took actions and made significant sacrifices to ensure the rights of the LGBTQ community, actions not only made national news but that eventually led to passage of marriage equality in Washington State.

Growing up in Oregon, Jeff Koertzen had very little political education. The son of an evangelical minister and the church pianist, his family had always been very conservative. Jeff’s political awakening occurred at college where he came out as gay. He was the first publicly out member of the university’s Interfraternity Council. Over the next decade, he was focused primarily on seeking equality for the LGBTQ community including interacting with and taking specific actions against the Oregon Citizens Alliance, its Executive Director Lon Mabon, and its Director of Operations Scott Lively.

In early 2005, Jeff had been working as a Program Manager in Microsoft’s Human Resources department, but he was also very involved with the local Human Rights Campaign office in Seattle and counted many local elected officials as friends. One friend, State Representative Ed Murray, had introduced anti-discrimination legislation guaranteeing the rights of the LGBTQ community in the workplace or in housing simply for identifying as, or for being perceived to be, LGBTQ. Rep. Murray thought the legislation had a very good chance at passing that year, and asked for Jeff’s help, among others, when a new issue emerged: Microsoft, which had been a supporter of the legislation each year, had made a bombshell decision to be “neutral” on the bill that year.

Rumors started swirling that a right-wing minister had met with Microsoft’s then General Counsel, Brad Smith, and convinced him to not support the bill that year, and it was making headlines nationwide. Jeff was a board member of GLEAM, then known as Gay and Lesbian Employees at Microsoft. (It is now Global LGBTQIA+ Employee & Allies at Microsoft.) GLEAM demanded a meeting with Smith who flew back from Europe where he was fighting charges that Microsoft had a monopoly before the European Commission. (Smith is now President of the Microsoft Corporation.) 

Smith’s meeting with GLEAM did not go well. Details were leaked to the local alternative weekly newspaper, The Stranger. At that point, Microsoft was backed into a corner, and Smith doubled down stating that Microsoft had determined that a person’s identity had nothing to do with their work-life and, as such, it was inappropriate for Microsoft to take a stand. Microsoft’s then-President, Steve Ballmer, issued a statement in support of Smith’s decision. The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement that it was “disappointed” in Microsoft which had previously received the top rating for corporations supporting the LGBTQ community. The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center demanded that Microsoft return the Equality Award it had awarded the company in 2001. (Jeff had actually traveled to Los Angeles with other LGBTQ employees that year to receive the award.)

The chairs at GLEAM decided to convene an ad hoc committee to respond to Smith and Ballmer. For a week, Jeff and several other members collected confidential input from many high-level LGBTQ employees while drafting the response which was released to Microsoft leadership and the press on Friday, April 29. While it was well-received across the country, other members of the GLEAM board were infuriated by the hard stance in the letter that they hadn’t been given final approval over. They called for an emergency meeting that evening where they demanded the resignations of Jeff and the two chairs. Members of the board complained that the letter had made it possible for Microsoft to fire each and every out gay person at the company. Jeff pushed back saying that, to the contrary, Microsoft had a very strong non-discrimination clause, and any attempt at firing any LGBTQ employee over the issue would easily result in a multi-million dollar lawsuit that the employees would easily win. Further, he stated, the legislation was intended not for the Microsoft employees that had such a strong anti-discrimination clause to fall back on. It was intended to support the gay kid working at McDonald’s in Spokane or the trans man renting an apartment in Walla Walla. The Microsoft employees, he said, needed to get out of their comfort zones and fight for others who didn’t have the benefits and luxuries of working for one of the world’s largest corporations.

The meeting ended without a resolution and with a lot of animosity between the parties fighting over what should be the right approach. Jeff took the weekend to consider his options and decided that the right thing to do was to go ahead and resign, but not from GLEAM. He was going to take his own advice and get out of his comfort zone. He was going to resign his position at Microsoft. And he took his decision public.

On Monday, May 2, Jeff told his manager that he was going to resign. That Wednesday, it was publicly announced via The Stranger in a story entitled “The Lying Game.” The story of the “gay manager” who had had enough of Microsoft’s lies spread and versions of the decision and the outcome was published in several news articles and outlets around the country, including the New York Times, Business Week, and The Advocate (LGBTQ monthly magazine).

Jeff soon learned that he was the topic of conversation between Microsoft’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources, General Counsel Brad Smith, President Steve Ballmer, and Chairman Bill Gates. Ballmer had previously stated that he and Gates supported the legislation but deferred to Smith on the company’s position. Gates had even suggested that the company might reconsider, but he had been surprised by the internal backlash. The VP of HR (whom Jeff had recruited as a major donor for HRC) made the argument to the very senior leaders that Microsoft had already lost one employee over the issue and that it was likely to get worse. She argued that Microsoft’s reputation would take a major hit and talented potential new hires who identified as LGBTQ or who strongly supported LGBTQ rights would steer away from the company. In addition, she argued, other corporations could reconsider investments with the company having a major financial impact.

Further, she argued, Smith’s argument that a person’s identity had nothing to do with their work-life was tragically false. A person’s identity is often the prism through which we see life and interact with others. And it can also be the prism through which others see the employees. Microsoft, she argued, must support its employees and potential employees and make sure that the laws of the state support them as equal citizens.

That Friday, May 6, Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates issued a public statement saying that although the state legislature had concluded its session for the year (Washington has a part-time legislature), the company would be supporting the legislation the following year and was looking forward to seeing it passed. The legislation did pass and became law in 2006 with Microsoft’s now-unwavering support.

Footnote: One component of the entire controversy in 2005 was Smith trying to make sure that Microsoft could steer clear of any legislation promising support for marriage equality. Several years after “The Lying Game” was published in The Stranger, Smith wrote a letter to the state legislature on behalf of Microsoft in support of marriage equality. In his letter, he used several of the arguments that had been presented to him by the Senior VP of Human Resources as well as by Jeff and the other members of the ad hoc response committee.