It never ceases to amaze me how one comment or gesture can have such an effect on a person. Just last month, co-founder of Mozilla Brendan Eich was appointed as its CEO. However, thanks to something that he did in 2008, last week he not only stepped down from the post, he also resigned from the board of the nonprofit foundation that wholly owns Mozilla.
The action in question is a $1,000 donation that he made in 2008 supporting the anti-gay marriage ballot Proposition 8. When information concerning the donation was discovered, it caused a great deal of controversy—the result being that Eich resigned from his post as CEO.
Last Tuesday, Eich declined to offer a rationale for his 2008 donation in support of California's gay marriage ban. He insisted that he would remain in the position despite a backlash over his appointment. Then, in an interview with The Guardian last Wednesday, Eich said his political beliefs were personal, “So I don't want to talk about my personal beliefs because I kept them out of Mozilla all these 15 years we've been going. I don't believe they're relevant.”
It seems, however, that the first week of his appointment had been marked by a series of public statements by Mozilla staff protesting his appointment. Angry users also voiced their disapproval through the use of social media. Three board members also recently resigned, however Mozilla said the events were not linked to Eich. According to a statement, "Two had been planning to leave for some time, one since January and one explicitly at the end of the CEO search, regardless of the person selected."
In a blog post on Thursday, Mozilla co-founder and executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker wrote that Eich's decision was voluntary and that he made it "for Mozilla and our community." Baker went on to state, “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,” read the post, in part. “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.”
One of the protests that might have had the largest impact came from dating website OkCupid. Users who went to the site using Mozilla's Firefox browser were greeted with a message that read: "Hello there, Mozilla Firefox user. Pardon this interruption of your OkCupid experience. Mozilla's new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples. We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid."
Baker continued in her blog posting, saying, “It’s clear that Brendan cannot lead Mozilla in this setting. The ability to lead — particularly for the CEO — is fundamental to the role and that is not possible here. I think there has been pressure from all sides, of course, but this is Brendan’s decision. Given the circumstances, this is not surprising. While painful, the events of the last week show exactly why we need the web. So all of us can engage freely in the tough conversations we need to make the world better. We need to put our focus back on protecting that Web. And doing so in a way that will make you proud to support Mozilla.”
Throughout several interviews, Eich really wanted to stick strongly by his views about gay marriage. Unfortunately, they run counter to much of the tech industry and, increasingly, the general population in the U.S. Eich repeatedly declined to answer when asked if he would donate to a similar initiative today.
It is strange, in addition to Brendan Eich being co-founder of Mozilla, he is also the inventor of JavaScript, however it seems that he will only be remembered for a $1,000 donation that he made in 2008.
Mozilla, has been without a chief executive officer since Gary Kovacs announced his resignation a year ago. What will happen next is still up in the air. Baker wrote, "What's next for Mozilla's leadership is still being discussed. We want to be open about where we are in deciding the future of the organization and will have more information next week."
Edited by
Alisen Downey 
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