Mozilla employees want new CEO to step down – update

Several Mozilla employees have tweeted that they want the organization’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, to step down from his position. They believe that his donation to a law banning same-sex marriages violates Mozilla’s morals and values.

The first to comment on the matter was Chris McAvoy, from Mozilla’s Open Badges project. He expressed disappointment with Eich’s appointment in a tweet. Not long after that follow the he with the message: “I am a Mozilla employee and I am asking Brandan Eich to step down from his position as CEO.”

According to Ars Technica, his call soon received support from other contributors, such as Chloe Vareldi, who is responsible for the Mozilla Festival, John Bevan, who liaises with the organization’s partners, designer Jessica Klein and Sydney Moyer from the communications department.

The call follows a fuss over a 2008 donation from Eich of $1,000 to Proposition 8, a law that was supposed to ban same-sex marriage in California. Earlier this week, the developer Rarebit withdrew all its apps from Firefox. The critics believe that the action of the brand new CEO at the time is not in line with Mozilla’s core values, such as openness, equality and innovation.

Eich was already the technical chief of Mozilla and succeeded the old CEO Jay Sullivan last Tuesday. He was not only the founder of Mozilla, but is also the creator of JavaScript. Mozilla has stated in a statement that it attaches great importance to diversity, including with regard to sexual orientation, but the organization does not specifically address the controversy surrounding Eich.

Update, 10.00: Brendan Eich says in a statement after the earlier outcry, for the tweets of the employees, that he hopes to allay the objections with his actions and with some promises. He pledges to be committed to promoting equality in everything Mozilla does, emphasizes his commitment to anti-discrimination policies and the foundations for them, and says he is personally committed to initiatives for people who feel excluded in ways that contribute to Mozilla or make open source difficult. “I commit myself to making sure that Mozilla is and remains a place for everyone and that supports everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, age, race, ethnicity, economic status or religion.”