Here is an article in which the author concludes that since
Brendan Eich opposed gay rights he was not qualified to be CEO of Mozilla.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-gay-marriage-20140404,0,7985087.story#axzz2y0cY9JAf
As you may recall Brendan Eich was forced to resign as CEO
of Mozilla because he contributed $1000 in support of Proposition 8 in 2008.
Have we reached the point in the discussion on gay marriage
that a controlling group now considers disagreement on the topic to be “malum
in se”?
I think Mr. Eich should have politely told the public that he maintains his right to believe what he believes and to continue running a company for which he is qualified.
ReplyDeleteThen people like me could have politely decided to stop using his browser in favor of one whose CEO has views on important social issues that are less upsetting to me.
Just like the Chik Fil A thing, instead of expressing public outrage about the company stance, I'll simply never give them another dime. Making purchasing decisions based on social issues is, no doubt, problematic (if I took a quick stroll around my apartment I would likely find products made by companies with questionable records on a number of matters) but Chik Fil A and Mozilla seem like easy ones to me.
To answer your question: Yes, opposition to gay marriage is considered by many to be similar to opposition to inter-racial marriage. Even if you don't view those as similar, there are a lot of people that do. No one has said Mr. Eich can't believe whatever it is that he believes, but they have said that they don't have to support him or support the things he runs.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of my generation, the millennials, are pro-gay marriage. Sadly for Mr. Eich, this is also the generation that makes up the majority of Firefox users. If he had not stepped down, it would have sank the Mozilla foundation, which is not doing so well to begin with.
Dan and Michael – thanks for the feedback. I find nothing to disagree with in your remarks or your stance on this issue.
ReplyDeleteI am weary of the conversation and I do so look forward to the day when this is no longer an issue.
Is tolerance (long a rallying call from the LBGT movement) a casualty here?
ReplyDeleteI first note that neither Dan nor Michael have responded before I suggest that the desire for tolerance was replaced sometime ago by a desire for acceptance. That is that all of these variations should be and are socially equal.
ReplyDelete