In our
politically correct world of today, bigots are fighting intolerance with even
more intolerance! Brendan Eich, the former CEO
of Firefox-maker Mozilla Corporation, is the latest victim of the fight for
equality and acceptance, but he most likely will not be the last. Numerous people who claim to be gay and
support same sex marriage have called the intolerance against Eich completely
wrong.
Eich stepped down as the CEO
because employees who support gay rights learned that he backed Proposition 8 in
California in 2008 with a $1,000 contribution. Prop 8 was meant to enshrine
“one man, one woman” as the standard for marriage in California’s constitution;
it has since been ruled unconstitutional.
Eich not only stepped down as CEO, he left Mozilla.
Mitchell Baker, Mozilla
cofounder and executive chairwoman, wrote in a blog post that Eich voluntarily
left Mozilla for the good of the company and the community. “Mozilla prides itself on being held to a
different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it…. We know why people are hurt and angry, and
they are right: it’s because we haven’t
stayed true to ourselves.
“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.”
It appears that gay rights
supporters were outraged at Eich’s appointment as the CEO of Mozilla once
public records revealed his contribution to Prop 8. Eich’s support for Prop 8 “was seen as
antithetical to Mozilla’s progressive public ethos, leading to calls for a
boycott of the group’s Firefox web browser.”
It also directly opposed Baker’s view.
Eich, a Mozilla cofounder,
explained his position in an interview with the Guardian newspaper last week.
Stating that he considered his political beliefs to be “personal,” he
had “kept them out of Mozilla all these 15 years we’ve been going.” He continued:
“There’s a difference here between the company, the foundation, as an
employer and an entity, versus the project and community at large, which is not
under any constraints to agree on LGBT equality or any other thing that is not
central to the mission or the Mozilla manifesto.”
A young friend expressed his
feelings about this situation: “It’s
wrong to fire someone over their political beliefs, and it’s unfair if they are
capable. This is bigotry, supposedly in
the name of fighting bigotry, and it’s a scary precedent. Whether or not you agree with his stance, it
was in 2008 that he made a personal, political donation – it shouldn’t have
reflected on his tenure at Mozilla.
Mozilla’s stance on the issue, or his ability to manage at all. Imagine getting ousted from your job because
of how you voted on a ballot measure 5 years ago….”
Scholars at The Heritage Foundation gave their
reaction to the “bullies” attacking, intimidating, and harassing Eich because
he did not share their view. Ryan T.
Anderson, the William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society: “The outrageous treatment of Eich is the
result of one private, personal campaign contribution to support marriage as a
male-female union, a view affirmed at the time by President Barack Obama,
then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, and countless other prominent officials. After all, Prop 8 passed with the support of
7 million California voters. So was
President Obama a bigot back when he supported marriage as the union of a man
and woman? And is characterizing
political disagreement on this issue – no matter how thoughtfully expressed –
as hate speech really the way to find common ground and peaceful co-existence?
“Sure, the employees of Mozilla
– which makes Firefox, the popular Internet browser – have the right to protest
a CEO they dislike, for whatever reason.
But are they treating their fellow citizens with whom they disagree
civilly? Must every political
disagreement be a capital case regarding the right to stand in civil society?
“When Obama `evolved’ on the
issue just over a year ago, he insisted that the debate about marriage was
legitimate. He said there are people of
goodwill on both sides.”
Hans von Spakovsky, manager of
the Election Law Reform Initiative and senior legal fellow: “Before Eich resigned, he pointed out that he
had kept his personal beliefs out of Mozilla and that they were not relevant to
his job as CEO. He was exactly right,
although that did not prevent him from resigning.
“In a startling display of irony
that was obviously lost on her, Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker,
who approved of Eich’s resignation, said it was necessary because `preserving
Mozilla’s integrity was paramount.’ She
seems not to recognize that forcing a founder of the company to resign because
of his personal beliefs that have nothing to do with his qualifications as a
corporate officer is the exact opposite of `integrity.’
“Eich is certainly not alone in
his predicament. As The Heritage
Foundation previously pointed out, other supporters of Proposition 8 in California
have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial
scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry
protests, violence, death threats, and anti-religious bigotry. All committed by individuals claiming they
are simply trying to gain `acceptance’ and who complain about the supposed
intolerance of society over their lifestyle.”
Should anyone be forced to toe
the company political line or lose their job?
I thought America was a land of freedom where we were free to think and
feel what we choose! We must stand up to
these bigots and defend our own beliefs.
I believe that marriage should be defined as “one man, one woman,” and I
will not change my belief. I just might
boycott Mozilla and other companies that support gay rights! What will you do to defend your rights of
freedom against intolerance?
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