On March 30th I received an email from Becky Bond, Political Director for CREDO Action from Working Assets that, quite frankly, pissed me off. It was regarding Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich. It didn’t bother me that they named him CEO, what bothered me is that Mozilla (maker of the world’s second most popular browser – Firefox) is an organization that has always demonstrated a deep commitment to openness and equality – yet they appointed a CEO who publicly supports the denial of equal rights for gays and lesbians under the law.
So I signed the petition to tell Mozilla that their brand should continue to be identified with openness and equality – not anti-gay hate. That CEO Brendan Eich must reverse his anti-gay stance, resign or be replaced. It was that simple. I also posted on Facebook that I would not use any Mozilla products until this man did the right thing.
I’m not a lesbian, although I have friends who are. I’m not gay, although I have relatives who are. I am a firm believer that ALL people need to be afforded the same rights under the law regardless of race, sexual orientation, age, etc. WE ARE ALL HUMANS. We need to stop acting like children and start treating each other with respect.
So I stopped using Firefox. And I waited. Today I received an email from Mitchell Baker, Executive Chairwoman for CREDO indicating that Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich steps down effective immediately. She provided the following information:
“Today, Mozilla’s Board of Directors and CEO Brendan Eich announced that Eich has decided to step down from the role of chief executive officer, effective immediately. The decision to step down comes after a week of intense backlash against Mozilla over Eich’s past support for efforts to deny equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians.”
You can read Mozilla’s official statement here. As someone who signed the petition to Mozilla, I made a difference in this fight.
Mozilla is not a company – it is a movement supported by tens of thousands of volunteers around the world. It is a non-profit organization fighting to keep the web open and free for all of us. They put PEOPLE above PROFIT (cough, Facebook) and they fight for user choice and privacy. The are the only browser that supports equality for all under the law, net neutrality and an end to mass warrantless spying by the NSA.
There is going to be a backlash from the rightwing for Mozilla taking this action, and they will most likely be viciously attacked. You can show your support for their decision on Twitter by using the hashtags #standwithmozilla and #switchtofirefox
You can also share this graphic across your social media sites:
I love it when an organization or company does the right thing and actually pays attention to what their consumers and users have to say. Kudos to you Mozilla, and thanks for listening.
