After Supporting Prop 8, New CEO Brendan Eich Comes Under Fire From Mozilla Employees

[davmat787]

JavaScript is working fine on my gay friend's Android phone. How is JavaScript homophobic?

Because it only works missionary style. Try using the phone doggy style and JavaScript will crap out all over you. D:

 

[werepossum]

Because it only works missionary style. Try using the phone doggy style and JavaScript will crap out all over you. D:

😀

Still, that actually makes as much sense as Hobby Lobby is investing in abortifacients because they allow employees to choose investment funds which include companies of which a very tiny fraction of their business involves making or selling those drugs. By that "standard" Mozilla is eat up with investing in homophobic code. In fact, Mozilla actually profits from that homophobic JavaScript whereas Hobby Lobby merely allows employees to do so.

 

[row]

If I use JavaScript, does that mean I'm doing business with Eich? Please explain.

every time someone uses javascript eich get's a penny. they add up! eich then takes these pennies (many of them) and donates them to homophobic organizations which spend them on ways to make life uncomfortable for gays. 😡 so you see using any application or service which utilizes js is like a slap in the face to your gay friend. unless you like slapping people, especially gays, i would cease and desist from ever using that 8tr script. ()🙂 cause at some point your friend will more than likely get tired of being slapped and turn around and stick a boot up your ass. or something else. :hmm:

hope that helps jpeyton! 😉

 

[pcgeek11]

What a load of crap. It is either support the LGBT Assholes or they will ruin your lifes work. Yet you should be tolerant and understanding of their choices or you are a bigot. They are a bunch of two faced douche bags.

 

[khon]

I support gay rights, but this case is ridiculous. I may not agree with Eich, but that's not sufficient reason to fire him.

 

[code65536]

I support gay rights, but this case is ridiculous. I may not agree with Eich, but that's not sufficient reason to fire him.

He wasn't fired, though. He resigned.

The chair (who co-founded Mozilla with him and has worked with him since the Netscape days) tried to get Eich to remain with Mozilla at a different senior position, but Eich declined because he thought that he was a lightning rod and staying on, regardless of the position, would hurt Mozilla. He cares about Mozilla enough (he's spent nearly 20 years of his life at Netscape/Mozilla) that he's stepping down to save Mozilla from the angry mob. The irony is that a lot of people misinterpreted this as Eich having been fired at Mozilla and are, as a result, organizing boycotts against Mozilla for the wrongful dismissal of Eich.

So no, he wasn't fired.

I do agree with the rest of your post, though. I don't agree with Prop 8 or with his support of it, but he's done a good job of keeping his private and professional lives separate (to the point that people like the Mozilla chair who had known him for so many years had no idea that he even harbored these views until this thing first surfaced back in 2012), and I think it's tragic that the Internet mob forced him out over this.

 

[JockoJohnson]

every time someone uses javascript eich get's a penny. they add up! eich then takes these pennies (many of them) and donates them to homophobic organizations which spend them on ways to make life uncomfortable for gays. 😡 so you see using any application or service which utilizes js is like a slap in the face to your gay friend. unless you like slapping people, especially gays, i would cease and desist from ever using that 8tr script. ()🙂 cause at some point your friend will more than likely get tired of being slapped and turn around and stick a boot up your ass. or something else. :hmm:

hope that helps jpeyton! 😉

I would love to see the ever tolerant left do this. They won't think that far ahead. They just want to crush him because he did an "action" 6 years ago.

 

[nehalem256]

If I use JavaScript, does that mean I'm doing business with Eich? Please explain.

Javascript is a product invented by Eich. Just because you get it for free doesn't mean you aren't doing business with him.

 

[jackstar7]

What a load of crap. It is either support the LGBT Assholes or they will ruin your lifes work. Yet you should be tolerant and understanding of their choices or you are a bigot. They are a bunch of two faced douche bags.

What are the two faces?

 

[her209]

Anti-gay marriage group calls for Firefox boycott
http://bostonherald.com/business/bu..._gay_marriage_group_calls_for_firefox_boycott

This is rich. Are they going to use Internet Exploder as their browser of choice?

 

[fskimospy]

No, you tried to make it sound as if he was a consistent supporter of gay marriage which he wasn't and likely isn't deep down.

Yet again, no. You continue to attempt to ascribe motivations and other actions to me that I have never taken. Why is there this constant stream of accusations that I'm trying to deceive you somehow?

I believe Obama has consistently supported gay marriage for either his entire life or for the vast majority of it. You seemed to mistake my mention of his cynical switch on the issue (ie: a lie) for a genuine change of heart on his part. I sincerely doubt that happened.

By him being a Christian, I'd argue he was really never a supporter of gay marriage, but as you eluded to, its the politically expedient thing to do.

I would say that the most Christian thing someone can do is allow others to find love and live their lives in the way that they want. Needless to say, many of the biggest supporters of same sex marriage I know are quite religious.

 

[RabidMongoose]

I hope that this is a valuable lesson to un-assimilated American males. You cannot do whatever you want now and not face repercussions from your actions. Other people will stand up and assert their own rights now as well. This country isn't playing by a single demographic's rules anymore, it's a country for everyone.

Eich probably thought that he could do whatever he wanted because that was the expectations that he has given his age. Now that we are in an era where his demographic is losing its special privileges that were at the expense of everyone else, we are seeing that people who thought they could trample over everyone else are suffering consequences. This is good for the country. Maybe Eich should have thought about the user base of his company's products before thinking that he could do anything he wanted without facing any possible consequences. Maybe Chik fil a has an opening.

 

[jpeyton]

Anti-gay marriage group calls for Firefox boycott
http://bostonherald.com/business/bu..._gay_marriage_group_calls_for_firefox_boycott

This is rich. Are they going to use Internet Exploder as their browser of choice?

They use whatever the manufacturer pre-installed on their desktop. Probably IE 9, unless they somehow miraculously clicked the Windows Update option in the last 2 years.

 

[jpeyton]

I support gay rights, but this case is ridiculous. I may not agree with Eich, but that's not sufficient reason to fire him.

Again, for people commenting after only reading the first post:

1) He wasn't fired, but forced out.

2) He wasn't forced out because of his views on Prop 8, he was forced out because his views on Prop 8 were interfering with his ability to be a good CEO.

3) When you work for a tech company in the San Fran Bay Area, being a homophobe is going to affect your relationship with employees, clients, donors, recruits, etc.

4) Getting rid of Eich was a very grass roots effort. No big LGBT activist groups involved, no celebrities, just people who worked for/dealt with/used products made by Mozilla and were disgusted they were dealing with a CEO who didn't want equality for homosexuals.

 

[code65536]

Again, for people commenting after only reading the first post:

1) He wasn't fired, but forced out.

And to further clarify, he wasn't forced out by the Mozilla board. He was forced out by external pressure mounted against Mozilla, and in the statements that he and the board made, it was his decision to leave the CEO post (which the board agreed with) and his decision to leave Mozilla all together (which the board did not agree with and tried to talk him out of).

 

[nehalem256]

Again, for people commenting after only reading the first post:

1) He wasn't fired, but forced out.

2) He wasn't forced out because of his views on Prop 8, he was forced out because his views on Prop 8 were interfering with his ability to be a good CEO.

3) When you work for a tech company in the San Fran Bay Area, being a homophobe is going to affect your relationship with employees, clients, donors, recruits, etc.

That is where you were 100% wrong. His views on prop 8, including when said views were actually relevant 6 years ago, haven't once interfered with his ability to be CTO at Mozilla for the past 8 years.

4) Getting rid of Eich was a very grass roots effort. No big LGBT activist groups involved, no celebrities, just people who worked for/dealt with/used products made by Mozilla and were disgusted they were dealing with a CEO who didn't want equality for homosexuals.

So when can we expect these people that were so disgusted with Eich to stop using javascript that was invented by him?:hmm:

 

[BoberFett]

I hope that this is a valuable lesson to un-assimilated American males. You cannot do whatever you want now and not face repercussions from your actions. Other people will stand up and assert their own rights now as well. This country isn't playing by a single demographic's rules anymore, it's a country for everyone.

Eich probably thought that he could do whatever he wanted because that was the expectations that he has given his age. Now that we are in an era where his demographic is losing its special privileges that were at the expense of everyone else, we are seeing that people who thought they could trample over everyone else are suffering consequences. This is good for the country. Maybe Eich should have thought about the user base of his company's products before thinking that he could do anything he wanted without facing any possible consequences. Maybe Chik fil a has an opening.

I'm 100% for equal rights, but people like you make me want to vote for bigoted Republicans.

 

[nehalem256]

I hope that this is a valuable lesson to un-assimilated American males. You cannot do whatever you want now and not face repercussions from your actions. Other people will stand up and assert their own rights now as well. This country isn't playing by a single demographic's rules anymore, it's a country for everyone.

Eich probably thought that he could do whatever he wanted because that was the expectations that he has given his age. Now that we are in an era where his demographic is losing its special privileges that were at the expense of everyone else, we are seeing that people who thought they could trample over everyone else are suffering consequences. This is good for the country. Maybe Eich should have thought about the user base of his company's products before thinking that he could do anything he wanted without facing any possible consequences. Maybe Chik fil a has an opening.

I know. Who wouldn't think that donating to a political cause with majority support in your state would cause you to be forced to resign?:hmm:

 

[werepossum]

Again, for people commenting after only reading the first post:

1) He wasn't fired, but forced out.

2) He wasn't forced out because of his views on Prop 8, he was forced out because his views on Prop 8 were interfering with his ability to be a good CEO.

3) When you work for a tech company in the San Fran Bay Area, being a homophobe is going to affect your relationship with employees, clients, donors, recruits, etc.

4) Getting rid of Eich was a very grass roots effort. No big LGBT activist groups involved, no celebrities, just people who worked for/dealt with/used products made by Mozilla and were disgusted they were dealing with a CEO who didn't want equality for homosexuals.

Definitely going to be a backlash though. I agree with his critics on gay marriage, but I also have many conservative views. Why would I wish to support a company with so little tolerance of divergent views, where conservatives must remain in the closet to remain employed? The board didn't force him out, but they sure as hell didn't lift a finger in support either.

Although for me this is academic; Mozilla makes the vast majority of its income from Firefox and I dropped that when they decided to put out a gazillion add-on-breaking releases a year.

 

[jpeyton]

I know. Who wouldn't think that donating to a political cause with majority support in your state would cause you to be forced to resign?:hmm:

The State wasn't Eich's employer, Mozilla was.

San Francisco County Prop 8 Results
Yes 24.9%
No 75.1%

 

[nehalem256]

The State wasn't Eich's employer, Mozilla was.

San Francisco County Prop 8 Results
Yes 24.9%
No 75.1%

What is your point? Are you really so close minded that you cannot stomach working with someone with different opinions?

Mozilla is in the business of making web browsers. Nothing about his opinion on SSM affects web browsers in the slightest.

And nothing about his opinion affected how he interacted with employees at Mozilla in the previous 8 years while he was CTO

 

[jpeyton]

Definitely going to be a backlash though.

There won't be any backlash.

Tech companies are run/supported by liberals, for the most part.

And I just don't see any type of outcry amongst the tech community at large. We have a few people saying what happened was wrong, but most people aren't defending Eich or his homophobia.

The bottom line is that there is a fundamental disconnect between many liberals and conservatives on the topic of gay marriage. Conservatives think it's free speech and freedom of religion, and liberals think it's conservatives trying to impose their religion at the governmental level on everyone. You're going to pick a side, there's no fence sitting.

People think that just because I'm liberal that I should support some random person's freedom to impose their bigoted, religious beliefs on marriage at the state level. I say that's rubbish.

 

[jpeyton]

And nothing about his opinion affected how he interacted with employees at Mozilla in the previous 8 years while he was CTO

They didn't know he was a homophobe for those 8 years. Working with a homophobe would disgust me, especially if I worked tech in the Bay Area.

 

[code65536]

That is where you were 100% wrong. His views on prop 8, including when said views were actually relevant 6 years ago, haven't once interfered with his ability to be CTO at Mozilla for the past 8 years.

You both are kinda wrong.

His donation was first revealed in 2012, and most Mozilla veterans learned about it back then. Mitchell Baker probably put it best: it surprised them because they had no inkling that he held these views. He did a good job of not expressing those views professionally, and he has always been supportive of Mozilla's policies regarding equality. So his Prop 8 views didn't directly affect his role at Mozilla, and people at Mozilla were okay with him holding those views because it didn't get in the way.

I was active with the Mozilla project some years ago (as a volunteer code contributor), and I know that there is a wide variety of views there, including some developers who held strongly conservative views and many who held strongly liberal views, and they were open about their views. This stands in stark contrast with Eich, who never revealed what he thought politically. This is likely why most at Mozilla were fine with it--they know from first-hand experience the Eich keeps his private and professional lives separate. The few employees who were calling for his ouster lately were all names that I did not recognize--they were either not involved in engineering and/or were newcomers.

On the other hand, it is also true that now that there is this controversy, Eich can no longer function as CEO. He's become a lightning rod, and as long as he remains in that role, it's going to a distraction. That's the sad reality of it--I don't like that it's come to this, and the Mozilla board didn't like that it's come to this, but the fact is, this controversy has become an all-consuming distraction, and Eich knew this. This is why he voluntarily stepped down, and this is why he rejected the board's plea that he stay on in a different role.

It's tragic, really. And I say this as a liberal who supports gay marriage: The torch and pitchfork mob crowd grossly overstepped. This was an act of retribution against someone who made a mistake, and all that it's done is damage the goodwill that the LGBT movement has earned over the years and give ammunition to conservatives.

 

[jpeyton]

This was an act of retribution against someone who made a mistake, and all that it's done is damage the goodwill that the LGBT movement has earned over the years and give ammunition to conservatives.

Again, it should be mentioned that conservatives don't have much ammunition in the tech arena. This isn't some protest over A&E or Duck Dynasty, or fried chicken joints.

So in that regard, it damaged the LGBT community very little. History will show that conservatives were fundamentally wrong in their opposition to gay marriage, and Eich getting forced out will be a footnote on the failure of Prop 8 and the entire anti-gay-marriage movement.