Mozilla CEO resigns over anti-gay marriage controversy

[Derangel]

This is hardly a "Cat person or dog person" type of debate here. We're talking discrimination. Freedom of speech doesn't means that said speech should go uncontested. And yes extreme sensitivity to certain believes can be exploited (i.e. Say anything that criticizes the state of Israel and you're immediately labeled as an anti-Semite even if your opinion is just political and has nothing to do with race) However again, we're talking about a tech company, this backlash is to be expected for the same reason a convicted pedophile would be chased out of the kids toy industry.

 

And I never said he shouldn't be criticized for donating to Prop 8. It was a ways back but in my first post in the topic I specifically said he should be called out for it. I personally, however, do not believe we need to force him out of his job based solely on that one thing. Given the backlash I believe Eich made the right call in stepping down as staying on would only further hurt the company. I believe in true equality for everyone, even people who at one time several years ago supported something that I hated. That belief I hold also means I believe in giving everyone a fair and equal chance to prove themselves in the tasks they are given. A pedophile working for a kid's toy company is creepy and dangerous on many levels but there is a world of difference between a pedophile and someone that opposes gay-marriage. I have yet to read anything from any Mozilla employee stating that Eich treated them poorly because they were gay or that he tried to get in the way of Mozilla's equality policies. I recall reading somewhere that Eich stated that he didn't want to change those policies and believed in the company.

[beebskadoo]

I think it's because we live in democracy and people have right to have opinion.

Nothing to do with that really.

Baseless opinions are just idiocy IMHO

[flibberdipper]

As long as this doesn't affect Firefox in any way, I don't care.

[beebskadoo]

Yes as long as you're not a Muslim, then do whatever you want.

Why does it matter what other people who share the same faith as you believe in?

I find that interesting that open opinion is fine unless it's someone who shares the same religion as you. that's just hypocritical I suppose.

[Yoinkerman]

What I do on my own time that doesn't affect my job is 100% my own business.

I expect no difference whether I'm Jeb at McDonalds or the CEO of mozilla.  

 

It doesn't matter that he's wrong, what he does outside of work is his own business.

[mr moose]

It's truly pathetic that people cannot keep someone's personal opinions and their work seperate. It's the most hypocrital thing in politics: "I want to live my life how I want, so don't tell me who I can't and can't marry. BUT HOW DARE YOU NOT AGREE, YOU SHOULD LOSE YOUR JOB!!"

Fuck those people. And just a heads up, I'm not saying that everyone is like that. The ones that are like that are fucking pathetic.

 

 

What I do on my own time that doesn't affect my job is 100% my own business.

I expect no difference whether I'm Jeb at McDonalds or the CEO of mozilla.  

 

It doesn't matter that he's wrong, what he does outside of work is his own business.

 

So if you had shares in a company that was losing money because the CEO kept offending people would you really want him to remain the CEO?

[Malkavain3]

In Voltaire's words:

 

"I detest what you say; I will defend to the death your right to say it."

 

 

[zip2k4]

I'm nobody. I'm just saying there is no constitutionally protected "right to marriage." I believe everyone should have the privilege of marriage, but currently the rights of many religions and states trump that belief.

 

I've always been stalking, but I think on this matter I need to voice something here...

 

the right to marriage implies that one needs to marry, and with this in mind I think cae have a point here.

 

having right doesn't mean that one need to do it, having right means if one should choose to - then others are obligated to allow the said person/people to do/claim their right.

 

I think the biggest thing here is the confusion between rights and option, I personally think the thing here is marriage is an option - whilst being able to marry who you

want IS the right.

 

oddly enough people find it necessary to argue not debate...

[cae]

Mozilla is non-profit. Losing "customers" that get smear-campaign upset over where $1000 of his personal money went 6 years ago doesn't seem like that big a deal to me.

[tacticalpanic]

It doesint matter whats right or wrong in the real world  , and like it or not people DO judge , its in our nature. I had never even heard of this guy before it came up , and i'm sure theres a lot of people in the same boat.

 

the CEO is the front man of a company , his views are the company's views in peoples eyes , so if the CEO says something , most people consider that the view of the whole company.  In the business world its all about what affects the bottom line , if investors and customers are being put off by the CEO's beliefs , he has to go.

[DaRk0]

Nothing to do with that really.

Baseless opinions are just idiocy IMHO

 

Agreeing to gay marriage can be idiocy just as not agreeing. There's are no standards - it's an opinion. Everyone can have it.

[mr moose]

Mozilla is non-profit. Losing "customers" that get smear-campaign upset over where $1000 of his personal money went 6 years ago doesn't seem like that big a deal to me.

even nonprofit organizations still need to maintain revenue or they cease to exist.

 

 

I've always been stalking, but I think on this matter I need to voice something here...

 

the right to marriage implies that one needs to marry, and with this in mind I think cae have a point here.

 

having right doesn't mean that one need to do it, having right means if one should choose to - then others are obligated to allow the said person/people to do/claim their right.

 

I think the biggest thing here is the confusion between rights and option, I personally think the thing here is marriage is an option - whilst being able to marry who you

want IS the right.

 

oddly enough people find it necessary to argue not debate...

 

You cannot have a debate without an argument.

 

You cannot have the right to marriage without the option to. 

 

What are you trying to say?

[jmaster299]

A person's personal and or political beliefs are no one's business and no one has any right to demand or expect a person be punished for their beliefs. Not every single person on the planet HAS to openly support gay marriage. Be gay all you want, but stop demanding the rest of the world support your choices and calling them bigots when they don't. I personally could care less about letting gay people marry, it doesn't affect me. But this nonsense is getting out of control.

[mr moose]

A person's personal and or political beliefs are no one's business and no one has any right to demand or expect a person be punished for their beliefs. Not every single person on the planet HAS to openly support gay marriage. Be gay all you want, but stop demanding the rest of the world support your choices and calling them bigots when they don't. I personally could care less about letting gay people marry, it doesn't affect me. But this nonsense is getting out of control.

 

But to actively oppose any form of civil liberty is bigotry.  And on top of that, are you suggesting people should not boycott a business who's CEO promotes discrimination?

[DaRk0]

A person's personal and or political beliefs are no one's business and no one has any right to demand or expect a person be punished for their beliefs. Not every single person on the planet HAS to openly support gay marriage. Be gay all you want, but stop demanding the rest of the world support your choices and calling them bigots when they don't. I personally could care less about letting gay people marry, it doesn't affect me. But this nonsense is getting out of control.

 

This

 

Respect peoples opinion. Not everyone has to like gay marriage. People could care less what gay people are doing in their private life, but if person/organization is forcing them to accept gay marriage and is calling their opinion stupid, that person/organization is violating basic democratic principles... in other words that's fascism.

[mr moose]

This

 

Respect peoples opinion. Not everyone has to like gay marriage. People could care less what gay people are doing in their private life, but if person/organization is forcing them to accept gay marriage and is calling their opinion stupid, that person/organization is violating basic democratic principles... in other words that's fascism.

This is so wrong.   IF an organization (in this case CEO) is actively working to discriminate against gay people then gay people have a right to call them out on it and boycott that organization. It is not fascism to want equality. It is in fact bigotry to actively oppose one persons right to marry who ever they want.

[Commander_Z]

everyone is entitled to their opinions

[DaRk0]

This is so wrong.   IF an organization (in this case CEO) is actively working to discriminate against gay people then gay people have a right to call them out on it and boycott that organization. It is not fascism to want equality. It is in fact bigotry to actively oppose one persons right to marry who ever they want.

 

I wasn't referring to this case. 

[mr moose]

I wasn't referring to this case. 

 

But no one is expecting anyone to change their opinion.  In fact I don't recall anyone in the thread saying anything even remotely like that.

[EthanLovesPi]

A person's personal and or political beliefs are no one's business and no one has any right to demand or expect a person be punished for their beliefs. Not every single person on the planet HAS to openly support gay marriage. Be gay all you want, but stop demanding the rest of the world support your choices and calling them bigots when they don't. I personally could care less about letting gay people marry, it doesn't affect me. But this nonsense is getting out of control.

 

The employees of Mozilla still have the right to resign because they don't agree with CEO's beliefs. Users of Mozilla products have every right to boycott their products as well. While I agree a person's personal beliefs and work life are separate, he is the face of the company. His actions have potentially damaged the reputation of Mozilla. They have every right to try and get rid of him.

[gastew15]

This is exactly the hypocrisy I hate.

It's because people can have views, but alot of the anti gay people want to take away others rights for their beliefs which is dumb.. If he had just not liked the idea of people being gay I'm sure he would have still had the same thing happen and you'd have a point, but it's usually the same thing as with the Protestant churches here in the US and their freedom to force religion. I also think that as a figure head of a large company that you're stupid for stating any opinion as this always happens.. People are always going to judge each other based on their beliefs, so really he was pretty stupid.

[Victorious Secret]

not going to my ethics class, I can learn so much from certain experts here...

[Admire]

Because in my religion, God made Man for Woman, and Woman for Man. Also one of the main factors for marriage (for us) is to procreate, and you can't do that if you're a homosexual.

 

You can't do that if you are shooting blanks either.

[DaRk0]

But no one is expecting anyone to change their opinion.  In fact I don't recall anyone in the thread saying anything even remotely like that.

 

I just had a dude telling me that baseless opinions are idiocy. Is there a standard for this that I'm not aware of?

 

I wrote that post, because I'm coming from country where most people doesn't like gay people and gay marriage because minority (gay organizations) is telling everyone they need to like them and they're demanding their rights even though they're not telling what kind of rights they are demanding. I mean, remotely, we all know they want to parade in their underwear and that kind of stuff, but that's not their right. I don't even know who put that idea in their heads. Everyone (straight people, gay people, aliens, whatever) would be arrested for disturbing the public order if they did that, but somehow these organizations  have altered this law in their head and they're saying this is gay rights violation. Sad fact is that didn't even managed to convince whole gay community to join them.

 

Now, my country in a relatively short period of time went through communist era, then some kind of nationalist era, now we are a democratic country. There were gay people in all of this eras and no one ever violated their rights. There wasn't even general rejection of gay people back then as opposed to now, but these so called gay activists and non profit organizations definitely have their finger involved in this.

 

This is off topic, but I wrote this because I see people getting laughed at and called idiots because of their opinion, not just on the internet, but also in my country as well, and I don't like that. 

[MangoJuiceStain]

Like I stated previously, people can say whatever they want but that doesn't excuse them from ridicule.

But listen, it was his choice and if he believes that gay marriage shouldn't happen, that doesn't mean he should face consequences. It's a free country. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily defending his opinion, but opinions are opinions)