Mozilla's new chief executive Brendan Eich has resigned a couple of weeks after his appointment amidst controversies surrounding his opposition to gay marriage.
Six years ago, in support of a California ballot proposal to ban same-sex marriage, Eich made a donation worth $1,000. The documentation of that donation spread on the Internet immediately after his appointment in March and led employees to take it to Twitter in calling for his resignation.
On Monday, dating site OkCupid welcomed its visitors using Mozilla Firefox browser with a message asking them to switch browsers as a protest against the Eich's support on an the anti-gay proposal.
The message reads, as reported by Mashable: "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."
The 2008 California ballot proposition is an initiative constitutional amendment that prohibits same-sex marriage, thus only allowing marriage between a man and a woman. It passed with over 52 percent votes statewide. However, it was later upturned by the courts.
Though he expressed regret for causing "pain" and promised to promote sexual orientation equality to the employees at Mozilla, he still ended up leaving his post.
"I have decided to resign as CEO effective today, and leave Mozilla," said Eich in a statement to the Wall Street Journal. "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."
Aside from the intense criticism he has received over his opposition to same-sex marriage, his selection as the new head of Mozilla was also controversial for other reasons. According to sources of WSJ, three members of the board of the software community quitted because of their disapproval of the new chief executive. They wanted someone, an outsider as much as possible, who is well-knowledgeable and well-experienced in the mobile industry that would help the company in its initiative to develop mobile OS with telecommunications companies.
