Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer sent an e-mail to the company's 35,000 U.S. employees late Friday, seeking to explain why the company withdrew its support for a bill banning discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Microsoft has been under fire since news of the decision spread last week.

The measure, House Bill 1515, failed by one vote Thursday in the state Senate.

Ballmer stressed that Microsoft did not change its position because of pressure from conservative religious groups.

On Feb. 1, two Microsoft employees testified before a House committee in support of the bill.

Afterward, "a local religious leader named Rev. Ken Hutcherson, who has a number of Microsoft employees in his congregation, approached the company, seeking clarification of whether the two employees were representing Microsoft's official position," Ballmer wrote. Hutcherson, pastor of Redmond's 3,500-member Antioch Bible Church, also demanded that the two employees be fired.

After careful review, Ballmer said, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith "informed Rev. Hutcherson that there was no basis for firing the two employees over the misunderstanding over their testimony, but did agree that we should clarify the ambiguity over the employee testimony."

Last year, Microsoft provided a letter of support for similar legislation. This year, the anti-discrimination bill dropped off its list of priorities, Ballmer said.

Before the start of the legislative session, Ballmer said, the company narrowed its priorities to issues more directly related to business, such as computer privacy, education and competitiveness.

But Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, the bill's sponsor, said a Microsoft lobbyist had told him toward the start of the legislative session that the company would support the bill this year as it had for the previous two years.

"What I want Microsoft to do is do the right thing and support the bill," he added. He promised the bill would be back in the Legislature next year.

In his memo, Ballmer said he had done "a lot of thinking and soul-searching over the past 24 hours."

He distinguished between his and Chairman Bill Gates' personal views and Microsoft's official legislative agenda.

"Both Bill and I actually both personally support this legislation that would outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation," Ballmer wrote. "But that is my personal view, and I also know that many employees and shareholders would not agree with me."

Seattle Times Olympia bureau reporter Ralph Thomas contributed to this report.