Macro-tough vs. Microsoft

Politics | Gutsy pastor strong-arms pro-gay corporate giant | Mark Bergin

Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church, opened his Mother's Day sermon with a joke, drawing laughter from more than 1,000 people packed into a rented high-school gymnasium for the first of two Sunday morning services. "We've been extremely busy this week," he said, alluding to the national media stir over his tactics in opposing statewide gay-rights legislation. "With Jesus Christ, you can just nickname me ‘Ice Water.'"

Mr. Hutcherson, who accrued national prominence last year for organizing Mayday for Marriage rallies to oppose gay marriage, recently convinced the Microsoft Corporation under threat of national boycott to withdraw its support of a bill that would have barred discrimination based on sexual orientation. The bill failed by one vote last month in the state Senate.