Amidst a loud and swift protest over his donation to a campaign to ban gay marriage in California, Mozilla co-founder CEO Brendan Eich has resigned.
Earlier this week, a message on okcupid.com went viral. When people attempted to access OkCupid through Firefox, Mozilla’s internet browser, they were met with a statement of OkCupid’s lack of support for Mozilla and Eich, who became CEO on March 24th. It was revealed that he had previously donated to support Prop 8, which sought to ban gay marriage in California.
The immediate public outcry joined the outcry from Mozilla employees, including the resignation of three directors. Support also came from OkCupid users, gay and straight, as well as the the community beyond. Protests had started on Twitter before the OkCupid announcement, and it all boiled down to a total lack of support for a CEO who contributed to a cause that was widely seen as against his company’s culture of openness and acceptance. Subsequent blog posts from Eich did not cool the furor, and he resigned. In a blog post on April 3rd, Mozilla restated its commitment of support for equality for all.
In a post on his Facebook, George Takei made this point:
Well, that was fast. OkCupid‘s strong stance surely helped. And staffers at Mozilla who’d protested, and company directors who’d resigned as a result of his appointment, can now work in a hate-free zone.
And a quick civics primer: Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. This man donated money to a campaign designed to keep LGBT people from full equality and to deny our families equal rights under the law. He was free to make that choice, but we are free to hold him accountable. If he’d donated money to White Supremacists to help outlaw interracial marriage, there’d be little outcry over his ouster.
This will no doubt continue to be controversial, but people spoke clearly for what they wanted. The results are that Brendan Eich is no longer the CEO of Mozilla, and a company was forced to take a good hard look at its values and what it really stands for.
Photo: wikimedia commons
A follow up to this article appears here.
From Forbes “On the other side, the sharpest critic of Eich’s ouster is Andrew Sullivan, the popular writer of the Daily Dish blog who is openly gay and an early supporter of gay marriage. “The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society,” he wrote. “If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out.” On Twitter, many agreed with Sullivan. “The mob got their man,” The news even prompted Michael Barbaro, a… Read more »
George Takei notwithstanding, there is no evidence that Mozilla is a hate zone.
Evidence, please.
Oh, who am I kidding?
The Right Sort of People were going to boycott Chik Fil A because the owner had the same view of SSM Obama had when running for president.
The resulting buycott was astonishing.
It appears the opposite is happening here.
Keep in mind that this only goes one way because people like Eich aren’t going to do the same thing as regards, say, supporters of SSM. That assymetry is wearing out.
What a crock. So these people want to lambast and judge someone for not agreeing with their beliefs, with the justification that he is a bigot. Somehow they are missing that they are being bigots themselves.
You’re entitled to your beliefs, but you’re not entitled to have your beliefs imposed on the rights of others. Your rights end where others’ rights begin, and it should be blatantly obvious to everyone that one party’s basic human rights override another party’s ‘right’ to have their philosophies and opinions define the law. Even more so when this other party’s actions have zero functional effect on your own life. As is often said, if you’re against gay marriage, I suggest you refrain from getting one. You get to marry the consenting adult of your choice, others get to marry the… Read more »
Big brother is watching …. unless we conform to what the liberals want, then we must hide.
““Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.”