Some Mozilla employees ask CEO to resign for his support of Prop 8

Multiple employees of Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, have asked new Chief Executive Brendan Eich to step down for his support of Proposition 8, the California constitutional amendment that disallowed the marriage of same-sex couples.

Mozilla appointed Eich as its CEO after operating under an interim chief for more than a year. Before that, Eich had served as Mozilla’s chief technology officer since 2005. He is best known for creating JavaScript, a widely used programming language.

Eich sparked controversy in 2012 when a $1,000 donation he made back in 2008 in support of Proposition 8 was brought to the tech world’s attention. Eich was able to weather the storm, but his appointment this week has resurfaced the issue.

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Numerous Mozilla employees asked that Eich resign on Thursday, posting similar messages on Twitter.

“I’m an employee of @mozilla and cannot reconcile having @BrendanEich as CEO with our org’s culture & mission. Brendan, please step down,� tweeted Sydney Moyer, a member of Mozilla’s engagement team.

Several other employees tweeted similar messages, with each tweet receiving more than a hundred retweets. One employee has also gone on unpaid leave as a protest against Eich, and outside of Mozilla, some have begun to boycott the use of Firefox, including two gay developers who wrote a blog post about it.

Eich addressed the controversy earlier in the week with a blog. In it, Eich wrote that he and Mozilla are committed to the inclusiveness of all people.

“I know some will be skeptical about this, and that words alone will not change anything,� he said. “I can only ask for your support to have the time to ‘show, not tell’; and in the meantime express my sorrow at having caused pain,� he wrote.

Mozilla could not be reached for comment.

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