NOM Calls for Firefox Boycott over Ousted CEO

The National Organization for Marriage is calling for a boycott of the web browser Firefox in support of ousted Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, who was forced to resign because of his personal beliefs about traditional marriage.

"When Brendon Eich made his modest contribution to support Proposition 8, Barack Obama was on the ballot as a candidate who said he believed marriage was the union of one man and one woman," NOM president Brian Brown said.

"Now Eich has been the target of a vicious character attack by gay activists who have forced him out of the company he has helped lead for years."

NOM wants traditional marriage supporters to remove Firefox from their computers.

Is America coming to the point where people can no longer support what they believe in without fearing backlash? Peter Sprigg, senior fellow at Family Research Council, answers this and more, on CBN Newswatch, April 4.

After Eich's promotion to the position last week, a public outcry began, and employees took to social media to call for his ouster, all because of a donation he made in support of California's Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman in effect outlawing same-sex marriages.

Six years ago Brendan Eich gave $1,000 dollars to the campaign working to pass the measure banning gay marriages in California. The Supreme Court overturned Prop 8 last year, but Eich's donation to the cause led to widespread criticism of his role at Mozilla.

In a blog on Thursday, Mitchell Baker, executive chairwoman of the Mozilla Foundation, which owns the company, announced that Eich chose to "step down."

"I have decided to resign as CEO effective today, April 3rd and leave Mozilla. Our mission is bigger than any one of us, and under the present circumstances, I cannot be an effective leader. I will be taking time before I decide what to do next," Eich said. 

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The resignation followed Eich's initial statement that he was the right choice for the position and Mozilla's backing was the best strategic move for the company.

"I don't think it's good for my integrity or Mozilla's integrity to be pressured into changing a position," Eich said in an interview earlier this week. "If Mozilla became more exclusive and required more litmus tests, I think that would be a mistake that would lead to a much smaller Mozilla, a much more fragmented Mozilla."

Eich even argued that by attacking his beliefs, critics threatened the survival of Mozilla.

"If Mozilla cannot continue to operate according to its principles of inclusiveness, where you can work on the mission no matter what your background or other beliefs, I think we'll probably fail," he said.

But Baker apologized for the promotion in the recent blog, adding that their lack of action after the controversy first surfaced didn't meet expectation of customers.

"We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it's because we haven't stayed true to ourselves," Baker said. "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."

Mozilla has since stated it believes both in equality and freedom of speech and that "figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard."

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