Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich Resigns After Queer Marriage Flap

[John Flynn]

Brendan Eich, a co-founder of Mozilla, was named CEO of the company last month, sparking outrage among board members of the nonprofit, which created the Firefox Internet browser, as well as users of the free service.

OkCupid prevented web surfers from logging onto the site through the Firefox portal, claiming 8% of its users are gay or lesbian.

Eich gave $1,000 to support California’s Proposition 8 in 2008, a bill banning gay marriage in the country’s most populous state.

Prop 8 passed, but was later overturned.

"Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech,” Mozilla Chairwoman Mitchell Baker wrote in a blog post Thursday announcing the move. “Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.”

Eich’s support of the ban was made public two years ago when he served as the company chief technology officer. But the promotion late last month led half of the Mozilla Foundation’s board members to quit and angered thousands of employees and people in Silicon Valley’s Mountain View community.


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