Mozilla board members resign over new CEO row

Staff Writers
April 1, 2014

THREE Mozilla board members have resigned over the selection of a new chief executive who donated to campaigns fighting marriage equality.

The resignations are the latest since it was announced last week that Brendan Eich was to be Mozilla Foundation’s new boss.

The Victorian AIDS Council / Gay Men’s Health Centre also announced last week that it was joining the growing boycott of products from Mozilla, the company behind internet browser Firefox.

According to The Wall Street Journal, former Mozilla chief executives Gary Kovacs and John Lilly, plus Ellen Siminoff, left the board last week after the promotion of Eich, who was a donor to California’s anti-marriage equality Proposition 8 campaign.

Mozilla has been in damage control since Eich’s promotion when developers Hampton Catlin and husband Michael went public with their decision to boycott Mozilla because of Eich. Mozilla employees also took to Twitter to take a stand against their new chief executive and urged him to step down.

Today, popular dating site OK Cupid also made a public move to boycott Firefox by encouraging users to use other web browsers such as Chrome, Safari or Explorer.

Eich responded to the controversy by saying in a statement last week that he was sorry for “causing pain” and that he would make an “active commitment to equality”. However, he did not specifically address his position on marriage equality or his donation to the Prop 8 campaign.

On Saturday, Mozilla posted a statement that said it supported marriage equality:

“Over the past few days we have been asked a number of questions about Brendan Eich’s appointment as CEO. This post is to clarify Mozilla’s official support of equality and inclusion for LGBT people.

Mozilla’s mission is to make the Web more open so that humanity is stronger, more inclusive and more just. This is why Mozilla supports equality for all, including marriage equality for LGBT couples. No matter who you are or who you love, everyone deserves the same rights and to be treated equally.”