Mozilla's Chief Executive Officer, Brendan Eich has resigned after the company faced loud protests over his anti-gay stance.
BBC reported Eich's appointment last month received sharp criticism from gay rights activists, including those from within Mozilla, on social media. At the heart of the matter is Eich's $1000 contribution supporting California's proposition 8, which sought to ban gay marriages. The proposition was later struck down by the Supreme Court.
OkCupid's recent move to prevent access to users using Firefox was the most damaging act of protest, BBC said.
"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," read a message posted on OkCupid earlier this week.
The Guardian quoted Mozilla spokesperson apologizing for the delay in addressing "concerns".
"We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it's because we haven't stayed true to ourselves," said Baker. "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," said Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Foundation's executive chairman, according to The Guardian.
Eich has maintained all along that Mozilla is all-inclusive and his actions were done in his personal capacity, while he asked people to not mix the company in such issues. However his refusal to publicly change his stance proved to be the last straw. Three board members also resigned around the time Eich was made CEO, but these resignations were not connected to the controversial appointment, BBC reported.
Eich is the co-founder of Mozilla is also credited with the invention of Javascript. The company now has to find a replacement.
"The next step for Mozilla's leadership is still being discussed and more information could be available next week," Yahoo News said based on Baker's statement.
