Initiative 963 proposed removing any reference to sexual orientation from existing anti-discrimination legislation. The initiative required 224,800 valid signatures be collected by the July 6, 2007 deadline in order to qualify for the ballot. On January 27, 2007, The Seattle Times reported that Hutcherson had allied with a network of churches, including Watchmen on the Walls, that were tied to conservative evangelical Slavic communities in Washington State and California that had been active in opposing same-sex marriage. On June 29, 2007, Hutcherson told The Seattle Times that he had dropped the initiative at the urging of Pastor Joe Fuiten, who argued that the time was not right for the campaign, and asked instead for his help in opposing domestic partnership rights for gay and lesbian couples. Microsoft In 2005, the Seattle weekly newspaper The Stranger reported that Hutcherson persuaded Microsoft to withdraw support for the Washington anti-discrimination bill that would have made it illegal to fire an employee due to their sexual orientation. Hutcherson had reportedly told the Microsoft general counsel that 700 evangelical Microsoft employees attend his church, and all of them opposed the bill. He added that if Microsoft did not withdraw support of the bill, he would organize a national boycott of the software maker. Sometime after the meeting, Microsoft changed its long-held position on the issue from support to neutral stating that anti-discrimination was not a priority for that legislative session. A few weeks later, after protests from Microsoft employees and advocacy groups, Microsoft's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employee resource group, the company reversed itself and pledged to support future anti-discrimination legislation. The Anderson Murray Civil Rights Bill was passed in the Washington State House on January 20, 2006, in the Senate on January 27, 2006, and signed into law by Governor Christine Gregoire on January 31, 2006. When the bill was passed, Hutcherson again called for a boycott, but no such organized effort emerged. On January 25, 2006, Hutcherson called for supporters to take action against Microsoft for reinstating its support of the Washington State Anti-Discrimination bill by driving down the company's stock price. Hutcherson asked that supporters purchase one or two Microsoft shares over the following months with the goal of selling them on May 1, 2006. Market experts stated that the "buy-and-dump" plan had no realistic chance of affecting Microsoft stock while legal scholars warned that the plan could be considered illegal