As many on this blog know, I have long been a supporter of same-sex marriage and gay rights. However, I have qualms about a story this morning that Mozilla Chief Executive Brendan Eich has been forced to step down after a campaign by an online dating service. The campaign revealed that Eich had made a donated $1,000 in 2008 in support of California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state before it was struck down in the federal courts. The controversy raises again the tension between free speech and corporate identity.
On Monday, OkCupid sent a message to visitors suggesting that they use browsers such as Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer or Google Inc’s Chrome: “Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples. We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid.”
Eich, who invented JavaScript, apologized for causing “pain” and promised to promote equality for gay and lesbian individuals at Mozilla. However, the campaign continued to call for his ouster.
We previously discussed this issue in relation to the Chick-Fil-A controversy. In this case, Eich was targeted for a small donation to the campaign in 2008. Many people oppose same-sex marriage out of deeply held religious or political views. I do not agree with them but this remains a deep divide in our country.
Eich was exercising his free speech rights in a matter of great public debate. I happen to view many current laws as discriminatory. However, the Supreme Court has yet to rule that states cannot prohibit same-sex marriage and there is no indication that Eich would refuse to comply with such a ruling if it were handed down. Indeed, there is no allegation that Eich has been in any way discriminatory toward employees or associates based on sexual orientation.
However, Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker indicated that, if anything, it took too long to can Eich: “We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry.”
That is what concerns me. Should companies now move quickly to can officials for religious or controversial personal views? There was a time when people would be fired for supporting gay rights. What about giving money to presidential candidates like Rick Santorum who oppose gay rights generally? Notably, President Obama’s Administration spent the first few years in office defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in court. Obama himself refused to endorse same-sex marriage for years in office 00 during the year period of this donation. To this day, the Obama Administration refuses to treat discrimination against homosexuals as the same a race for the purposes of constitutional interpretation. So why is Eich not allowed to hold such personal views in making donations?
I do not question the right of all citizens to launch such a boycott and to use their market power to influence corporate policy. Clearly, many people stopped going to Chick-Fil-A in such a protest. However, I have concerns over the basis for such a campaign when there is no evidence of political or personal views having any connection to the company. Indeed, the company appears a leader in non-discriminatory practices. Where do we draw the line in such cases? What about corporate executives below the CEO or contributions to political parties or candidates viewed initial to same-sex marriage?
Source: Yahoo
Nick,
Another gay blogger and lawyer…
Was the gay community right to target Mozilla’s Brendan Eich?
http://americablog.com/2014/04/gay-community-right-target-mozillas-brendan-eich.html
Max, we have a lovely young woman in our extended family, who did just that. Married to placate her family who were strict Catholics. Needless to say there was a divorce some years later and a coming out and a lesbian in law. I found it still shameful that that side of the family refuses to tell the truth to the nieces and nephews, telling them that the nice lady Aunt B brings to family functions is just her “good friend and roommate”. The kids are now getting older and catching on. I don’t know why the couple puts up with it, except that they desire to remain in the family circle.
Mr. Turley,
Three Mozilla board members—including former CEOs—step down [Updated]
http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/03/three-mozilla-board-members-including-two-former-ceos-step-down/
File this under ‘relevancy’
His core values were NOT in line with the company he was heading up.
The free market allows him to leave. He left.
Why should he be forced to stay in position of CEO of a company who’s core values are NOT in alignment of his own? Where’s the argument for THAT?
Oops, ink to quote.
http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com/2014/04/nom-launches-mozilla-boycott.html#disqus_thread
Nick,
Gay blogger Joe Jervis…
… Nuff said.
Paul,
I can’t help but notice the lack of outrage about Right Wing Religiously funded orgs. boycotting Mozilla…
… Yet the LGBT community is to blame?
We’re the gaystappo?
We’re the militant homo-SEX-YOU-All’s?
We’re the gay mafia?
Ire… teh gays.
Paul,
Try being alienated by your family because you refused to be straight for their sake… At the age of 22. I’m 50 now. We speak maybe, once a year.
They thought I ‘should marry a woman and raise a family’.
… No consideration as to the fraud I’d be perpetrating upon the woman and should we have had children, them too.
I don’t perp frauds just to please others…
Max-1 – I was alienated from my family for about 5 years because I would not do what it was my mother wanted. Never talked to my mother during the entire period. Sorry about your crappy family, but in mine you would have been fine and dandy.
Max-1 – on a personal note, I am an agnostic. Appealing to religion is not going to help. 😉
Paul,
So you agree… Obama didn’t quit. He evolved, so to say.
Mr. Eich, not so much. Why do you suppose he quit?
Paul,
You can keep me down all you need. You can restrict my freedoms all you might. You can refuse me Rights all you like…
… However that speaks more about you than it does about me.
What have I, or other LGBT people done to warrant such second class status in your world?
On a side note:
Who did Jesus discriminate against?
Religious freedom is but a cover to oppress the lesser.
All in violation of Christ, too.
“What so ever you do unto the least of your brother, so too you have done to me.”
It’s good to remember that when helping old ladies cross the road just as much as it is when refusing to help LGBT people cross their proverbial street. No different.
You’re free to hate me…
… I’m free to call you out.
AMERICA!
p.s.
Personal responsibility means accepting the hell and brimstone that comes with what one says and does.
If only Obama had quit his job we would have been so much better off, even with Joe Biden as President. The President, like most celebrities does not run his own Twitter account.
Mr. Eich RESIGNED…
… Are there any employment attorneys here?
Fine distinction between self terminations vs. being fired.
Forced out? Why?
… teh gay?
Really?
But NOT, NEVER, EVER his core value system as CEO.
Max, You’re the Energizer Bunny. Sorry dude, I’m done. Wisconsin is on soon and I’m watching the first game. I’m a Cheesehead and a SoCal dude.
Nick,
Waiting for you comments about Brian Brown and Ben Shapiro…
… Crickets.
Nick,
The Gay Mafia… really?
Brian Brown
Ben Shapiro
… Not mafioso?
.
Paul,
After Obama was called out on his LGBT stance, did he quit his job and delete his twitter account? What would a social scientist say about that behavior?
Paul,
Do you differentiate between having a position on a subject verses donating money to the cause that best supports your position?
Did either of the Obama’s give money to activist groups that seek to restrict my Rights? Yet, you compare the two…
Mr. Obama ‘evolved’ on the matter and celebrated it.
Mr. Eich, not so much. Yet you hold the two as a comparison.
Please explain…
Max – you assume rights you may or may not have. Prior to groups of activist judges there was no ‘right’ for people of the same sex to marry. Where that is allow that is a new right, not one of long standing. Right now I do not have the right to marry a second wife. However, if I could find a friendly court, I could obtain that right (my current wife would surely divorce me, but that’s a different problem).
Let’s look at this a slightly different way. In some states I have the right to carry a concealed weapon without obtaining a permit, in some I have to get a permit, in some I cannot get a permit. That right changes from state to state. Am I a bad person or bigot for advocating for or against unlimited concealed carry? Should I lose my job or be forced to resign my position because I took a position on this?
Max, I really don’t like Kos. But, out of respect to you, I just read his take on this. I go w/ Sully. It’s the tactics, Max. As Maher said, “the gay mafia.” I am on record here and elsewhere as a free speech anti-PC advocate. Again, I respectfully disagree. Life would suck if we all agreed.
Paul Schulte
Gad to know that you support a browser that supports LGBT Rights.
Why should Mr. Eich have been forced to stay with Mozilla…
… NO ONE HAS PLEAD THAT CASE YET, WHY?
Instead, the focus has been against a sole blogger that pointed to Mr’ Eich’s past history and how that past isn’t in alignment of the company’s value system.
Correction:
Ire has turned against the gay community. Just look at the broad swaths of blame and shame towards militant homo-SEX-YOU-All’s (PLURAL).