The last few weeks have been pretty crazy with the controversy surrounding Mozilla’s initial CEO selection of Brendan Eich.
For those that don’t know, Brendan Eich is the creator of JavaScript, cofounder of the Mozilla project, the Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation, and also served as Mozilla’s chief technical officer before briefly serving as CEO. Eich stepped down after an outcry from Mozilla employees as well as an online firestorm.
The Controversy
The outcry and firestorm came about because Brendan Eich donated $1,000 in support of California’s Proposition 8, a referendum back in 2008 that amended the Californian constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The referendum passed, but was later struck down by the courts. From these ashes, the L.A. Times published a searchable database with all the donors who supported and opposed the ban, and that is when Eich’s name popped up in 2012.
However, it was Mozilla’s announcement of making Brendan Eich CEO a few weeks ago that caused the uproar:
“Some employees revolted and openly called for him to step down. A dating site called for a boycott of Firefox.”
And don’t forget about the news articles and blog posts fueling commenters, commentators, and social media streams. The writing was on the wall, so it was no surprise when Eich resigned after ten days of being the CEO of the organization that he cofounded.
What If It Was You?
I have been thinking about this controversy since it first erupted. It is easy to get lost in the politics, religion, and emotions surrounding this story; but I kept coming back to the same question:
What if it was me?
- What if I tithed to a church that believes that marriage is between a man and a woman?
- What if I donated, voted, or supported something (and in Eich’s case, democratically passed) that would be deemed radically wrong 8-years later?
- Sure. I will never be made CEO of anything near the size of Mozilla, but don’t the same rules apply?
Clearly, technology is not insulated from today’s culture wars.
What do you think about it?
[Image via Fanpop]
Eric J says
We were thinking of this exact situation when signature gatherers were at our church for our states marriage law which failed with ~75% of the population voting against defining it as one man and one woman. We knew that if we had signed a petition it could end up in a public database and haunt us later. Especially to our Gay friends whom we are trying to love.
The #1 problem in my eyes is that Christians and the Gay community cannot see this the same way, they feel extremely hurt that Christians don’t want them to get married for something they see as totally normal. We have a huge communications gap between our two viewpoints.
Eric Dye says
True story.
Bevan Kay says
What drives me absolutely bonkers about this debate is that any argument FOR the sanctity of marriage is skewed and received as an argument against homosexuality. I just don’t get how if I say that I don’t support same-sex marriage because I believe that marriage is ordained by God, that can be taken as me saying that I *hate* homosexuals.
I also don’t understand why one man’s personal convictions were brought to light and he was forced to stand down by the angry mob. He is entitled to his opinion is he not, just like the rest of the Mozilla staff.
Eric Dye says
True. I am glad my job status has never pivoted on being “right” or “wrong” about personal beliefs.