Mozilla (Firefox) CEO Brendan Eich Donated To Anti-Gay Charity - Boycott Started - The Café

Brendan Eich's Prop 8 donations come to light, and internal response is mixed.

Yesterday, after nearly a year of searching, the Mozilla Foundation announced the hiring of longtime CTO Brendan Eich as its new CEO. The internal hire looks like Mozilla opted for a technological leader to head up the front office as opposed to a business school expert, though at this point, Eich's coding chops (inventing JavaScript, co-founding Mozilla) have possibly been outpaced by his past nine years of Mozilla leadership work.

But much of the public reaction to his promotion skipped past that "can a coder run a company" question, focusing squarely on another financial issue. In 2008, Eich donated $1,000 in support of California's Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that sought to ban gay marriage in the state. So shortly after the announcement of Eich's hiring, the reaction came swiftly. In particular, developers came forward with a mix of boycotts and reluctant acceptance.

App developer Rarebit ignited the conversation by announcing that it pulled its apps from the Firefox Marketplace. In a statement, Rarebit CEO Hampton Catlin recalled the story of his own gay marriage experience in California, which allowed him to marry Rarebit co-founder Michael Catlin. Catlin called Eich out for both his Prop 8 donation and his choice not to apologize.

"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," he wrote.

Mozilla Education Lead Christie Koehler offered an internal perspective. She repeatedly expressed disappointment with the news of Eich's Prop 8 donation but also insisted that she saw no reason for Mozilla's principles of "openness, innovation, and opportunity" to change because of Eich's new role. After expressing empathy for Mozilla's search for the right internal hire, she praised the company's LGBT-friendly benefits packages, its internal guidelines for participation, and its board of directors. Koehler asked anybody who shared her mixed sentiments to join her efforts in cementing Mozilla's policies toward openness and inclusion.

"Many Mozillians are themselves advocates for human rights, animal rights, prison abolition, marriage equality, racial equality, etc," Koehler wrote. "Some of those causes might overlap with the cause of a free and open Internet, but they are separate causes, and none of them are the focus of Mozilla the organization."

Another Mozillian, W3C co-chair Daniel Glazman, offered support for Eich. Glazman attempted to divorce politics from the greater Mozilla mission: "We, as a community, cannot promote openness and freedom of choice without a deep respect for individual beliefs. A reminder of Brendan's personal choices years ago is unfair and violates the core values of the Mozilla community."

Eich's own statement, posted on his personal blog in 2012, did not speak to the specific reasons for his $1,000 donation in support of Prop 8. After claiming that "the donation [did] not constitute evidence of animosity," he denounced naysayers by saying that they were "not providing a reasoned argument." He offered no clarification on that point. Eich concluded the piece by saying, "I do not insist that anyone agree with me on a great many things, including political issues, and I refrain from putting my personal beliefs in others’ way in all matters Mozilla, JS, and Web. I hope for the same in return."

The rise from CTO to CEO places Eich's years-old statements in a massive spotlight. As a pure technology company, Mozilla can possibly consider itself politically agnostic so long as free speech of all kinds remains unfettered for international Internet users. But Eich, above all, must know that he made the choice to spend money toward a political aim. Since he's now climbed to a CEO post without offering any apology or explanation, the users and developers who disagree may very well respond in kind.

Update: In response to our report, Mozilla representatives directed us to a press release from the foundation's official blog. Titled "Mozilla Statement on Diversity," the post does not specifically refer to Eich's hiring. Instead, it opens by saying, "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." The post then reiterates Koehler's prior statements about Mozilla's LGBT-friendly healthcare plans, adding, "With thousands of people spanning many countries and cultures, diversity is core to who we are, and we’re united in our mission to keep the Web open and accessible for everyone."