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Who Exactly Belongs To This Supposed “Gay Mafia” That Brought Down Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich?

There has been quite a bit of chatter in the aftermath of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich’s resignation. Wingnuts are pointing fingers at an elusive “gay mafia” that they allege is responsible for Eich’s ousting. The only problem: They don’t actually have anywhere to point, which is why they have used such vague terminology. The fact is there was no organized campaign.

Even out blogger Andrew Sullivan suggested “fanatical” gay activists bullied Eich out of his job. Sullivan, who should know better, didn’t name names either. Other media outlets reported “protests” were what prompted him to step down, but these protests are never identified. Glenn Beck went so far as to accuse gay “terrorists” of “celebrating” the fact that Eich “lost his job.”

In the San Francisco Chronicle, conservative Debra Saunders claimed that the “forces of intolerance” defeated Eich. Who are these forces, according to Saunders? “A number of emails from gay readers who supported the get-Eich campaign.” Ah, yes, those all-powerful openly gay emailers with nothing better to do than write to little-known columnists at dead-tree publications. And the supposed “get-Eich” campaign? Well, she never bothers to identify it.

Yet no gaggles of LGBT activists ever were seen congregating on the lawn of Eich’s house or picketing outside the Mozilla Firefox headquarters. Not to mention, Eich didn’t lose his job. He quit. While it is entirely possible that he was forced out by the board, we don’t know that for sure. (Memo to Beck: We have plenty of things to celebrate without taking pleasure in someone’s demise. Like marriage equality and Zac Efron.)

The most likely suspects for a “gay mafia” would be well-funded LGBT orgs such as GLAAD or HRC. But neither of those organizations weighed in publicly on Eich until after he stepped down.

The only big entity that commented on the issue was online dating website OkCupid, with a PR gimmick that encouraged Firefox users to switch web browsers. That’s a far cry from demanding Eich be fired. And OkCupid is hardly a gay company.

Perhaps the closest thing resembling a “gay mafia” was an online petition on a site called “CredoAction” that called for Eich to clarify his position on marriage equality. The petition demanded his firing if he retained his opposition to same-sex marriage, an intolerant position supported by fewer and fewer Americans. And come on now, how much weight does an online petition really carry these days?

Then, of course, there was the opposition to Eich within the Mozilla community. A handful of employees tweeted about their disappointment in the CEO’s hiring. Some called for his resignation. Others asked for a conversation that he refused.

But it’s hardly surprising that LGBT employees would be uncomfortable with a boss who opposed the legal recognition of their families, or be concerned about what it could mean for workplace equality.

So where exactly is this clandestine “gay mafia” that wields such enormous power? Basically, we’re talking about a few employees, Mozilla fans, and random social media activists. Perhaps this so-called gay mob is hanging out with the Affordable Care Act’s federally-funded Death Panelists? The gay mafia running death squads. Now there’s an unlikely scenario.

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