Step down, Mozilla employees tell new CEO Brendan Eich for anti-gay stance

Mozilla, the free and open source software company, appointed a new CEO last week but the name Brendan Eich has been a controversial one ever since it was floated as possible option for the job.   In 2008, it came to light that Eich donated money to California’s Proposition 8, a ballot that sought to ban gay marriage in the state. He is also known to have donated money to a California Congressman who supported the bill. Mozilla’s most famous product is Firefox, and after Eich’s appointment, some gay developers who worked with Mozilla said they would be boycotting the Firefox Marketplace, the main app storefront for the Firefox mobile OS. App developer Rarebit pulled apps from the Marketplace. “We morally cannot support a foundation that would not only leave someone with hateful views in power but will give them a promotion and put them in charge of the entire organization,” the CEO said in a statement, as reported by Ars Technica. [caption id=“attachment_220607” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  A highly controversial appointment[/caption]   And then last night it turned out that it wasn’t just app developers outraged over Eich’s appointment. Mozilla employees started tweeting their disapproval of the new CEO, asking Eich to quit. Ars Technica reports that as many as five prominent Mozilla employees tweeted, urging Eich to step down.      Reportedly it was two tweets from Mozilla Open Badges project lead Chris McAvoy, which set the internal protest rolling. “I’m an employee of @mozilla and I’m asking @brendaneich to step down as CEO,” he said in one of those tweets, a line which has been adopted by others as well. The embedded tweet above is from Mozilla designer Jessica Klein.   The internal protests come even as both the Mozilla Foundation and Eich have clearly said they will be increasing their efforts for LGBT outreach. Eich said on his personal blog, “I know there are concerns about my commitment to fostering equality and welcome for LGBT individuals at Mozilla. I hope to lay those concerns to rest, first by making a set of commitments to you. More important, I want to lay them to rest by actions and results.” He then went on to outline what employees and those associated with Mozilla can expect. “Active commitment to equality in everything we do, from employment to events to community-building” was one of the things Eich mentioned, along with “Working with LGBT communities and allies, to listen and learn what does and doesn’t make Mozilla supportive and welcoming.”   Mozilla also released a press statement on diversity at the workplace. “Mozilla has always been deeply committed to honoring diversity in sexual orientation and beliefs within our staff and community, across all the project’s activities. One concrete example of this is in our health benefit policies. Mozilla provides the same level of benefits and advantages to domestic partners as we do to married couples across the United States, even in states where it is not mandated,” it said.   Both statements came prior to the Twitter outburst by some employees and are clearly being seen as hollow words. It remains to be seen whether the controversial appointment of Eich will have a further adverse impact on Firefox and Mozilla, which is looking to make a major push in the mobile space in 2014. Surely, we have not heard the last of this.