Well, what do you know: sometimes angry people yelling on the Internet can actually have an effect. Firefox’s new CEO Brendan Eich, who supported Prop 8, is stepping down after a week of public outcry.
“Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this decision for Mozilla and our community,” the company wrote.
“It’s clear that Brendan cannot lead Mozilla in this setting,” said Chairwoman Mitchell Baker.
Geez. We are not totally sure that this is the best possible outcome. It might’ve been better to open a dialogue about why Eich supported Prop 8; what his current feelings are about LGBTs; and why opposing equality isn’t just a “difference of opinion” but morally unacceptable.
But we didn’t get that. Instead, the poor schmo is out of a job; the conversation is no longer about reaching an understanding; and we’re going to see a return to the narrative about how religious bigots are the true victims of bigotry.
This probably could have been avoided if Eich had just spoken openly about his current position. He could have said “Yup, I supported Prop 8, and I still do. Suck it, gays, and by it I do not mean cock, because that is a sin.” At least then we would have known!
But he didn’t go that elegant route. Instead, he issued tortured, twisted logic-pretzels to avoid saying anything at all. His obfuscation just made things worse.
Make no doubt about it, Eich is the bad guy here, not a victim. He supported an amoral law. And then he refused to talk about it, deliberately shutting down any discussion.
Nevertheless, it’s pretty much guaranteed that an outcry will issue from antigay groups, claiming he was ousted for his beliefs, rather than his failure of leadership. Ugh, everyone. Just ugh.
DarthKitsune
well, now I can use Firefox again. It’s my favourite browser.
ack747
Feel bad for the guy. Not sure why his personal money and views, which he never made a part of his business, or even a public matter, should be relevant to the consumer. This was all from a financial disclosure form from six years ago, not him trashing gay marriage publicly. Rather, Mozilla provides same-sex couple health benefits and a non-discrimination policy.
And for all the whining self-righteous gays who pat themselves on the back for boycotting Firefox, Eich is the guy that created JavaScript. Anytime you use the internet, you’re supporting him.
Billy Budd
Back to using firefox. I love it because it has security add-ons. I hope Eich will be fired by Mozilla.
haroldhughes
And good riddance. An unrepentant homophobe has no place as head of a tech company. Mozilla had to force him out- shame they didn’t do it sooner.
I really need my Firefox.
erasure25
@ack747: Because I prefer not to enrich homophobic bigots who will then turn around and throw money at more propaganda to take away more rights. We should consumers care if a company supports terrorism, slavery, etc.. Kinda of a silly question.
erasure25
@ack747: And about the JavaScript, sometimes you cant get around it. But where we can make a difference, we should…
SteveDenver
Excellent!
SteveDenver
@ack747: You should have rooted for him while you could. Now it’s too late and your scolding is empty.
ack747
@erasure25: So not only are you a hypocrite whining about Firefox while using JavaScript, but you’re claiming that you research every employee of every business you purchase anything from, to ensure they’ve never privately held an anti-gay marriage view?
NO. He was an easy target that was the unfortunate target of a bunch of selective-outrage gay mafia that want to pretend they’re doing something good. Obama was against gay marriage for four years and still thinks states should be free to outlaw it; why not boycott everything he controls?
reallygoodthings
He made his beliefs known loud and clear when he, with conviction, donated money to a hateful, bigoted piece of legislation and now, the chickens have come home to roost!
misterhollywood
I really am kind of shocked he made it through the vetting process in the first place. It is good he stepped down.
showertile
There is no “understanding” that could have been reached because NEITHER side was open. It’s easy to say in hindsight that we would have welcomed an “open dialogue” etc. but most people on this site and in the general gay community just attacked the guy and the company-at-large. Shame on the community for losing an opportunity to act like grown-ups and shame on Queerty for saying it was all his fault.
jar
Poor schmo? Eh, not even close, Queerty.
And the author may want to dust off his dictionary. Amoral is not an accurate descriptive for Prop 8. Look it up. Immoral is the appropriate word.
showertile
@misterhollywood: I agree with you here. I find it surprising that they didn’t foresee all the hatred that would get thrown at them. Objectively, for the sake of the company I suppose, it’s a good thing he left.
Cam
“”Geez. We are not totally sure that this is the best possible outcome. It might’ve been better to open a dialogue about why Eich supported Prop 8; what his current feelings are about LGBTs; and why opposing equality isn’t just a “difference of opinion” but morally unacceptable.
But we didn’t get that. Instead, the poor schmo is out of a job;””
__________________________________________-
Thought you were being clever didn’t you Queerty? Once again, WHENEVER it’s anything to do with Mormons and Prop 8 you can’t wait to play the apologists. I was wondering why your article was so adamant about painting this guy as a victim. And well, what do you know, once again, Queerty will always defend then anti-gay Mormon.
Cam
@showertile: said….
“Shame on the community for losing an opportunity to act like grown-ups and shame on Queerty for saying it was all his fault.”
_________________
Or, you could just go fuck yourself. This guy paid to have gays rights stripped away and yet you paint gays as the attackers. You are either a Mormon troll coming in here to try to defend one of your bigoted brothers, or you are dangerously self hating.
Desert Boy
Buh bye, worm.
Will L
Yeah, too bad. Sux to be an a-hole. Sometimes it comes back to bite you. Sounds like Mozilla was careless in the vetting process but perhaps not the next time.
tjr101
Bye Bye bigot, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. He’s entitled to his views and judging from his recent interviews he’s quite unrepentant about the donation, but the gay community has every right to react to being affronted. I’m sure Sarah, and the other right-wingers will be rushing to take a selfie with him now.
Clark
So let me get this right….the same ‘community’ that yells, screams, and stomps their feet whining about acceptance and open minds celebrates the resignation of someone that dares to have their own opinion….interesting.
Ever notice how gays want everyone to ‘accept’ them, yet they accept no one?
litper
@Clark: are you talking about Word Vision? Go away, rightwing troll!
stanhope
Sometimes I am not interested in talk. I really don’t care if he is educated about what is right. He was an asshole and he got fired. I am fine with that. Score it a win and move on and dispense with this namby pamby “let’s discuss it” shit.
stanhope
@Clark: notice how there are still fools in the world that while about what the community does? Go have a drink and STFU.
stanhope
@reallygoodthings: Amen.
sejjo
It’s not an ‘Amoral law’, it’s an IMmoral law, period.
orcanyc
Your right, he should of had the courage to explain himself and this just proves he wasn’t the right person for the job.
Adar Lang Pai
@Clark “HOW DARE YOU NOT TOLERATE INTOLERANCE!” Asking a disenfranchised community to accept the very people who want to keep them disenfranchised is pretty insane. This guy didn’t just have a “difference of opinion.” He supported a referendum to take away our rights. Let’s put your rights up for a vote and see how you feel about “differing opinions.”
Polaro
I have mixed feelings about this. It does not feel right. Part of me is glad the uptight tool got served. Another part of me thinks that perhaps one’s personal beliefs, if they are not related to work requirements, should not be used to terminate someone.
Cam
@Clark:
Sorry Clark, the Mormon trolls tried that tactic during Prop 8 and it failed, I apologize you did not get the memo.
Basically what you tried to say, is that if a man wants to rape a woman, and that woman doesn’t allow him to rape her, then that woman is being intolerant of his belief that he should rape her.
jazz4108
I do not feel bad for this guy as he could not take the heat his bigot ass put out so he quit. End of story.
showertile
@Cam: You’re paranoid if you think every gay person who wasn’t foaming at the mouth over this guy is self-hating. Seriously, this “with us or against us” mentality is disgusting. I didn’t like it when GWBush practiced it, and I don’t like to see my community practice it. You’re just as bad as supporters of Prop 8.
Geoff B
He could have apologized for what he did and the backlash would have likely died out a lot sooner. After all, $1000 is not a lot of money, and since 2008 a lot of people who were against marriage equality have changed their minds. He didn’t, and spending money to further the cause of stripping away people’s civil rights rightfully pisses a lot of people off. Don’t be fooled into thinking his First Amendment rights are somehow being violated. The government had nothing to do with this. He can’t be penalized by the government for what he did, and I would absolutely agree he shouldn’t. He is not, however immune from scorn from the public about what he did. As a fiscal conservative I believe in a free market. This is free market at it’s best.
Cam
@showertile:
Look, you have been on every post here rabidly defending this guy, your agenda is obvious.
And your view, again, is basically this. This guy is a rapist, the gay community is a woman, and you are screaming that the gay community is an intolerant bully for not allowing this man to have his “Right” to rape her.
We get it, in your wold, bigots are deserving of freedom and rights, and if gay people don’t agree with that, then they are evil and bullies and their rights don’t matter.
A2B
@DarthKitsune: You people… you really do believe if a person is not gay then that person must be anti-gay. Eich made the contribution 8-years ago and his opinion, if that is what you believe a $1,000 represents, is the same as your president and Hillary at that time. Did anyone ask him what his opinion is today? We don’t know do we. No place do I find your hate speech about Obama and Hillary. Fifty-two percent of voters supported prop 8, but judges took down the law believing they know more than the population. I don’t care who anyone chooses to partner with, I am just tired of the bigots left and right. Lets hear some of you scream over Hillary come next election. No, probably won’t do that. What about free speech, where does that come into play. Dont bother replying as I only logged on here to make this rant and wont be around for your, surly, nasty bigoted and hate speech replies.