Why Brandon Eich should step down

http://runtimeintrospection.tumblr.com/post/80909019367/brandon-eich-should-step-down

by mergesort • 12 years ago

5 2 12 years ago

runtimeintrospection.tumblr.com

anigbrowl• 12 years ago

I read this and the linked articles several times, but didn't see any answer to the question posed in the headline.

I get that Eich donated to support Prop 8 in 2008; it caught my attentions traight away sinc I was on the opposite sid eof that debate. On the other hand, he says he committed to inclusiveness in both word and deed, and Mozilla makes no distinction between employees' living arrangements for the urposes of pension benefits etc. as is.

I get that various LGBT people who work there can't get with him as CEO, but I'm not clear on why this is. For all I know he may have changed his mind since prop 8 was passed over 5 years ago - lots of other Californians have, if opinion polls are to be believed. He wrote a blog post in 2012 defending his right to keep personal opinions and professional life separate, so chances are that he was still against gay marriage then and now, but I really don't know what his specific views are just from the fact of his having made a donation. Even if he has not, it seems to me that he's still entitled to hold a personal opinion that gay marriage is a bad idea as long as he doesn't promote or promulgate that belief in the workplace or in the Mozilla foundation's policies.

I did read Hampton Catlin's call for a boycott, but while trying to learn more about the issue I also read blogs from LGBT people at Mozilla who already work with Eich and say they're fine with him as CEO. Of course, people who are not fine with it should absolutely act on their convictions, as with any political issue, whether that means discontinuing working with someone whose views they can't abide, or calling for a boycott, or whatever. I'm less convinced that other people should be expected to act to suit those views, though.

davidgerard• 12 years ago

The story just made international mainstream news (Channel 4, UK): http://www.channel4.com/news/mozilla-chief-executive-twitter...

I'm strictly an amateur at nonprofit PR (press volunteer for Wikimedia), and I could shit better damage control than Mozilla's managed so far.

Seriously, you people. You had TWO YEARS' RUNUP! What couldn't you have done with TWO YEARS' RUNUP?

As a friend put it: 'I'm envisioning the board standing around with glassy stares, "I have no idea how this could have happened. We totally vetted his geek cred."'

Why Brandon Eich should step down

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