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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. We must do better.
Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He's made this decision for Mozilla and our community.
Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.Our organizational culture reflects diversity and inclusiveness. We welcome contributions from everyone regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender, gender-identity, language, race, sexual orientation, geographical location and religious views. Mozilla supports equality for all.
We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public. This is meant to distinguish Mozilla from most organizations and hold us to a higher standard. But this time we failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community.
As of this time, there is no named successor or statement on who will be taking over Mozilla's leadership.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Lagg on Thursday April 03 2014, @07:55PM
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Thursday April 03 2014, @08:38PM
Maybe they didn't know, until someone scoured the Prop8 donor list and found his name there.
There's other sources saying he's "infamous" for other, similar (anti-gay) actions? That's news to me, and I read through all the comments on this story both here and on that other site, and didn't see anyone bring this up.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 03 2014, @09:19PM
It was well known it was covered in newspapers and sites in 2012.
However what I have a hard time understanding is this unforgiving attitude towards the man that said the following:
"A number of Mozillians, including LGBT individuals and allies, have stepped forward to offer guidance and assistance in this. I cannot thank you enough, and I ask for your ongoing help to make Mozilla a place of equality and welcome for all. Here are my commitments, and here’s what you can expect:
Active commitment to equality in everything we do, from employment to events to community-building.
Working with LGBT communities and allies, to listen and learn what does and doesn’t make Mozilla supportive and welcoming.
My ongoing commitment to our Community Participation Guidelines, our inclusive health benefits, our anti-discrimination policies, and the spirit that underlies all of these.
My personal commitment to work on new initiatives to reach out to those who feel excluded or who have been marginalized in ways that makes their contributing to Mozilla and to open source difficult. More on this last item below."
Seems the only hate is the hate directed at Brendan.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday April 04 2014, @12:27AM
I'm somewhat on the fence about it too.
While I don't believe that such viewpoints can be found in leadership for an open source community with those values, I have to support the man's freedoms to express his views.
I know there are some very religious people that donated to prop8 because their religion demanded nothing less. Support for prop8 does not indicate the level of hatred that is supposedly motivating this man. He can genuinely feel this way and still wish LGBT couples to be happy and prosperous. Just not married before God.
So until I start seeing video or articles in which the man sounds like the Westboro Baptist Church going on and on about those people are destined for the fires of hell, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is more or less a good person.
He just can't be the CEO of Mozilla since that is a full contradiction in the values to include everyone fairly. The religious position was his choice and religious people always have to make sacrifices to find a happy medium in a secular society.
Now Mozilla will have new leader ship. We can stop demonizing him.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 04 2014, @01:45AM
I think Brendan is not a bad person, even though I may disagree with his beliefs. I think those who condemn him for speaking his mind are just as hateful as the bigots who condemn gays and lesbians as "bad people" solely because of their sexual orientation.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Yog-Yogguth on Friday April 04 2014, @06:05AM
Couldn't agree more. I don't see any essential significant difference between the WBC and Mozilla now; if anything Mozilla is worse because they actually have some power beyond harassment (not that I want to belittle despicable harassment). My only sympathy goes to those who don't think it's a good idea to politicize their sexuality whatever it might be (be as flaming obvious as you like, that's not what this is about, if anyone has a problem with that it should be their problem not yours and likewise for anyone who has a problem with people who aren't gay).
The difference between
1.: firing someone because they're in favor of homosexuality or are gay
and
2.: firing someone because they're not in favor of homosexuality or are not gay,
can the rest of you really spot it?
Maybe some people wonder what I mean by politicized, well this piece of news is already being reported all over the world or at least western Europe. If you don't find that the least bit peculiar you're not even trying to "look around you" :|
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2) by naubol on Friday April 04 2014, @04:42AM
Please, if he had gave money to an organization that wishes to remove the right to vote from women, the pitchforks would have made a forest. You may not care that much about gay rights, but he was a prominent person in a prominent organization. It isn't hate that I feel, it is a sense of deep concern that someone like him is tolerated in a position like that.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Friday April 04 2014, @04:48AM
Well, it amounts to "I accept your right to be LGBT until you step off Mozilla property"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 04 2014, @04:57AM
Well, if we are going to be unreasonable about it, how comfortable should a mormon feel with a gay CEO? And should people mob up and harrass a gay CEO until he steps down so that everybody can be happy? What it seems to boil down to is that you should have no views that could offend ANYONE, which pretty much means you should have no views at all, which is also sure to offend some people, so let's just decide that CEOs are bad.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Friday April 04 2014, @05:36AM
You think this hasn't already happened? Both before and after the selection of CEO?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 04 2014, @09:20AM
Isn't that a standard question, when applying for a job as CEO? "Do you have any skeletons in the closet that could become a problem for the image of this company?"
If that question was not asked in this case, somebody failed at due diligence.
(Score: 3, Informative) by tierack on Thursday April 03 2014, @09:24PM
From an interview with Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker referenced in this article at Re/code [recode.net]:
So, they knew, they thought about it, and they came to an incorrect conclusion.