Mozilla Struggles in Wake of CEO's Support of Gay Marriage Ban

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I have argued many times that anti-gay bigotry can be bad for business.  The folks at Mozilla - the company behind Firefox - are finding this out first hand after the promotion of Brendan Eich to the position of CEO.  Eich has opposed marriage equality and contributed to the Proposition 8 campaign.  Now, the blow back has been strong and a number of programs and companies are striking back at Mozilla which is trying to convince the world that it isn't anti-gay and that it does support diversity.  A piece in the New York Times looks at the company's ongoing efforts at damage control.  Here are excerpts:

People who once debated the benefits of different web browsers are now embroiled in a heated discussion about gay marriage, and Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, is at the center of that debate.

The troubles began when Brendan Eich, a programmer and creator of the JavaScript programming language, was appointed as the new chief executive of Mozilla last week. Since then, three board members have quit the company, current employees have publicly denounced Mr. Eich, and now Firefox is being publicly criticized on another website.

On Monday, OKCupid, an online dating site, made it difficult for people using Mozilla Firefox to access its service, stating unequivocally that this decision was a result of Mr. Eich being an ”opponent of equal rights for gay couples.”

Mr. Eich first came under fire when it was revealed that he donated $1,000 in 2008 to support a ban on gay marriage called Proposition 8.

Justin O’Kelly, a media relations manager at Mozilla, did not respond to a request for comment but pointed to a blog post writen by Mr. Eich.

“I am committed to ensuring that Mozilla is, and will remain, a place that includes and supports everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, economic status or religion,” Mr. Eich wrote in the post.
The promise of openness with employees did little to appease board members who left the company last week. Gary Kovacs and John Lilly, both former Mozilla chief executives, and Ellen Siminoff, chief executive of the education start-up Shmoop, left the Mozilla board last week.

Last week, a number of current Mozilla employees aired their frustrations in public, taking to Twitter to voice concerns about the appointment of Mr. Eich as chief executive and saying that he should step down.

The outcry stems in part from the ideals of Mozilla, a company that has prided itself on openness on the web.

It is unclear if this outcry will affect the status of Mozilla. According to Net Market Share, which tracks the use of Internet technologies, Firefox is currently used by 18 percent of the web.

 I guess Mozilla will have to hope that lots of Bible Belt Christians switch to Firefox as their preferred vehicle for viewing their Internet porn sites.