Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich resigned under pressure last week from the tech company that is best known for its open source Firefox browser because of a $1,000 donation he made in 2008 to the proponents of Proposition 8, California's now-defunct same-sex marriage ban. After several years with the company but only two weeks in the top job, Eich's abrupt departure is not a cautionary warning that every person who donated to the Yes on 8 campaign could be fired, as the usual right-wingers would have you believe. That's ridiculous. What Eich's resignation does reveal, however, is that nearly six years after one of the most divisive initiative campaigns in the state, opinions have evolved toward acceptance and thus, it's much better to explain yourself than remain silent. Unfortunately for Eich, he chose to stonewall, which didn't work out too well for him.
Some anti-gay groups are complaining because they incorrectly state that Eich was a target of the "gay mafia," you know, the well-funded national LGBT organizations. But groups like the Human Rights Campaign never waged an effort to force Eich from his job. Likewise, Freedom to Marry, another national organization, mounted no concerted effort against Eich. "There is no monolithic gay rights movement that called for this," Freedom to Marry Executive Director Evan Wolfson told the New York Times.
No, in this case, the action came from within Mozilla, but those board members and employees were helped immensely by Eich's refusal to discuss the donation, why he made it, and whether his views on same-sex marriage have changed in the past six years. According to the Times Eich refused to repudiate his donation, even after being asked personally to do so in a meeting with two prominent software developers who said they would no longer create apps for Firefox. Same-sex marriage is now legal in the Golden State, thanks to the measure being struck down in federal court (the federal court decision was upheld when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the proponents lacked standing) and Eich's unwillingness to discuss the donation most likely cost him his job more than the contribution itself. Each side in the Prop 8 fight raised about $40 million, so a $1,000 check wasn't significant by any definition.
The donation wasn't even a secret at Mozilla as employees heard about it a couple of years ago at a conference. But Eich wasn't CEO then, he was chief technology officer; and the light always shines brighter on a CEO than other company executives. Fair or not, CEOs are held to a higher standard.
Forces outside of the company also played a part. The dating site OkCupid went so far as to request its clients not to use the Firefox browser when visiting the site, bringing more attention to the issues and adding more unwanted publicity for Mozilla.
Mozilla's workforce draws from a wide swath of people, and many work without pay developing programming code – but even among these types, the furor was too great.
We don't know Eich or his political views. Many tech CEOs and employees are generally somewhat libertarian in their worldview, which makes for interesting developments. As we've seen in San Francisco with the tension between housing costs and the influx of tech workers, these entrepreneurs often think an app will solve a problem but oftentimes fail to see the negative consequences. Can't get a taxi? Create an app (Uber). But just as Uber and other car service companies have recently had to face the fact that they weren't providing adequate insurance for their drivers, so it is with executives like Eich who may have a "live and let live" philosophy on most issues but can't see how it applies to LGBT rights. Eich reportedly asked critics to give him time to "show that he could separate his personal views from the way his company conducts business," the Times reported. Mozilla's board didn't want to wait and cut its losses.
The conflicts between free speech and LGBT rights have recently gained broad attention with the so-called license to discriminate bills, as we noted a few weeks ago. Eich had every right to make his political donation. Mozilla had every right to cut him loose when he wouldn't answer basic questions about it from its own board members, employees, and contributors.