Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has publicly accused tech giant Microsoft of engaging in unlawful religious discrimination against certain nonprofit organizations, primarily targeting Christian faith-based groups and pro-life pregnancy resource centers.
In a strongly worded letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday, Attorney General Uthmeier charged that the company’s nonprofit discount program, while outwardly championing an anti-discrimination policy that includes religion, is being applied in a “discriminatory manner.”
The letter claims that the company has “quietly enacted some sort of tacit religious or ideological litmus test” to determine eligibility.
According to the Attorney General’s letter, religiously affiliated nonprofits, including private Christian schools, churches, Christian nonprofits, and faith-based pregnancy resource centers, have been denied access to Microsoft’s program.
- Vague Denials: Many applicants were reportedly given no reason for denial or were told they fell outside the “philanthropic scope” of the program.
- Pregnancy Resource Centers: The exclusion of some pregnancy resource centers was evidently based on them not offering “full women’s health services” or, specifically, abortions. Uthmeier asserts this is inconsistent with Microsoft’s own policy, which claims to take guidance from legal exemptions for religious organizations.
- Inconsistent Application: The letter notes that while Microsoft’s non-discrimination policy ostensibly exempts religiously affiliated organizations from endorsement requirements, and while its policies state it will consider relevant country exemptions for religious organizations, these groups are still being excluded.
Uthmeier argues that this alleged conduct violates Florida’s Civil Rights Act and constitutes deceptive and unfair business practices under Florida law. He states that the “promise of discounts for seemingly qualifying non-profits, only to be denied because of unstated religious and ideological biases,” is a violation of consumer protections.
“If Microsoft is pro-abortion and hostile to the pro-life community, then make that position plain. If Microsoft harbors some hostility to Christian educational institutions, then come out and say it,” Uthmeier wrote. “Don’t hide anti-life and anti-Christian biases behind a mellifluous nondiscrimination policy that suggests an all-comers policy to the nonprofit community.”
The Attorney General urged Microsoft to immediately stop the discrimination and adhere to its own non-discriminatory commitments or, at minimum, publicly admit its “hostility to Christian non-profits and pro-life pregnancy resource centers.”
READ: Florida AG Uthmeier Targets Roblox In Criminal Probe As A “Breeding Grounds For Predators”
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