OkCupid is calling on users to switch from Firefox to other browsers when trying to access the dating site, because of new Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich’s $1,000 donation to the Proposition 8 campaign that sought to ban same-sex marriage in California.
Users who try to access OkCupid through Firefox are greeted with a statement urging them to “consider different software for accessing” the site.
The statement adds, “Equality for gay relationships is personally important to many of us here at OkCupid. But it’s professionally important to the entire company. OkCupid is for creating love. Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame, and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure.”
In response to OkCupid’s move, Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, issued a statement that says, in part, that the company “supports equality for all, including marriage equality for LGBT couples. No matter who you are or who you love, everyone deserves the same rights and to be treated equally.”
It adds, “One voice will not limit opportunity for anyone. That was true yesterday and will be true tomorrow.” The company statement also included its community participation guidelines.
OkCupid’s stance follows the resignation of at least three Mozilla board directors over the selection of Eich, a Mozilla co-founder, as CEO. The Wall Street Journal reports that the former board members were in favour of an appointee from outside the company but does not say their decision to step down is related to Eich’s 2008 donation to the Prop 8 initiative.
But a number of Mozilla employees have expressed their outrage on Twitter over Eich’s donation and have called on him to step aside.
As reaction to his appointment poured in, Eich issued a statement on his blog, acknowledging the “concerns about my commitment to fostering equality and welcome for LGBT individuals at Mozilla” but saying he hoped to put those to rest through a series of commitments. Those promises include working with the LGBT community and allies to understand how Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox web browser, is or is not supportive and welcoming, a commitment to promoting equality throughout the company, and outreach to “those who feel excluded or who have been marginalized in ways that makes their contributing to Mozilla and to open source difficult,” Eich writes.
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