I penned this in response to a private email, but since the topic is public I will share it here.
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In 2001, when I founded my first company, Themis Group, my first hire - as company president - was a transwoman named Jessica Mulligan. At the time, transgender people were much less in the public eye, much less understood, and not widely accepted. And Jessica was not able to pass. My judgment was quietly questioned by our investors. But Jessica was excellent at her job and went on to become executie producer for Turbine's MMOs.
In 2008, as Publisher of The Escapist, I was the executive producer of "I Hit It With My Axe", featuring the then-little-known D&D With Pornstar's Zak Smith and his friends. Zak is a left-wing radical who despises right-libertarians, so his politics couldn't be further from mine. I was immediately attacked by social conservatives, for "putting porn stars on the site". Note that they were offended because of who these people were, not what they were seeing on camera: The show was about playing D&D, had no adult content in it, and showed that people of all types played D&D. It enjoyed a successful run without that audience. Later, that chorus of attack also added progressives, who told me that I should not work with Zak Smith because he was objectionable. Zak continued to have a successful show.
In 2012, I was made Publisher of EveryJoe, a conservative men's site. I hired, among others, RPG Pundit and John C. Wright. You can find a published history on RPG Pundit's blog of his opinion of me allowing John C. Wright to be a columnist - he finds the man objectionable, as many do. Of course, many people also think RPG Pundit should never be a columnist because he's objectionable. Yet both had successful columns with avid followings.
In 2012, I was also made Publisher The Gloss, a feminist fashion site. I hired Sam Escobar, a gender-fluid bisexual person who uses "they/their" as their preferred pronouns to run that site. Conservatives don't read The Gloss but if they did, they'd be appalled; I cannot imagine what John C. Wright, the most socially conservative person I've ever known, thought of it and Sam. It didn't matter. Sam was great at their job and is now Deputy Editor at Allure; we still stay in touch.
In 2014, as Publisher of The Escapist, I made the decision to allow discussion of GamerGate on our forums, and conducted a series of interviews showing that there was diversity of opinion on this topic. For this I was widely pilloried by progressives, for giving a platform to hate speech, and somewhat by gamergaters, for giving a platform to "SJWs". Several staffers resigned because of my position, mostly from the left. Many threads on RPG.net blasted my character and several backers who used to support ACKS refused to do so because I participated in "hate speech". Nevertheless, I continue to maintain that there was and is diversity of opinion and deed on this topic and that gamers deserved to be able to discuss it. I wrote a lengthy 5-page essay explaining my views, available online.
In 2014, I hired a man named Brandon Morse to work at The Escapist. I was immediately attacked because Brandon Morse had made tweets that some people in the trans community found offensive. Among those people Zak Smith and other members of "IHIWMA" team. Zak notified me that they would cease working with me if I did not cease working with Brandon. I sadly explained that if I had listened to that sort of influence, I'd never had worked with Zak, because other people were saying the same thing about him. He responded that he and the others were leaving. Zak and I have not worked together since.
Now, in 2016, I have accepted a pledge campaign from Vox Day, a notorious internet troll and right-wing extremist. But Vox is also a man who has loyally backed my games for years, frequently posted very kind reviews about it on his website, and whose affiliates are among my most enthusiastic supporters in the media. I have already made it clear that the art and class in the book will be appropriate to the tone of the game, world, and book. Nevertheless, there is pressure not to do business with the man, not because of what will be in the book, but because of who he is and what he believes.
I understand that pressure, and I know that those who take that stance do so out of their own moral beliefs. When I refuse that pressure, it is because of my own moral beliefs, not for economic gain. (I work in liberal Hollywood California, and my career has only been harmed, not helped, by being a right-libertarian.)
Fundamentally I think that private economic boycotts over differences of identity and politics are harmful to civil society and I refuse to engage in them. I know that many disagree with me, and believe it is better to cause those who espouse unpopular views to suffer for them because they deserve it. I disagree and I think that civil society depends, not just on freedom from government, but on freedom to disagree - sharply, vehemently - with each other on issues most dear without fear that doing so will cause one's ability to earn a living, sell product, find work, or buy a product being harmed.
Of course I cannot make people share my beliefs, or make them work with me, or make them buy my products, so more often than not, my position brings me harm; I find myself boycotted though I do not boycott. Even people that I have helped because of it find no reason to support my views when it conflicts with their own needs. Nevertheless these are my life-long views, and having held them through massive career-damaging incidents, I can affirm them as fixed and immutable.
note: minor edit made on request of zak smith to clarify that cutting ties with escapist was his decision, not that of his team-members