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March 24, 2014
Gay marriage is not a gay issue, nor is it liberal or conservative. It is an equality issue, since basic rights of Americans, who happen to be gay, are threatened. As more and more people wake up from the slumber of ignorance and see the light in supporting gay marriage, there are still people that refuse to evolve. You can hate anyone you want, and if you hate gay people, that hate is your burden to live with. Quite frankly, gay people do not need your love or approval, although I'm sure it would be appreciated. What they do need though, is to be treated equally by the government that they live under and pay taxes to.
When people donate money to anti-gay causes, they can sometimes fuel hatred and anti-American values. After all, equal rights are the foundation of the USA. Sadly, the new CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, who was appointed today, allegedly donated $1,000 to support a ban on gay marriage. Two developers, Hampton Catlin and his husband Michael, are boycotting Mozilla as a result.
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| Mozilla's New CEO, Brendan Eich |
Catlin further explains, "I certainly recognize that there are great people at Mozilla. And that lots of people there want the org to be open and supportive. However, the board could have chosen ANY of those other, awesome people at Mozilla to be CEO. Hey, I've got a crazy idea, how about a woman at Mozilla? Nope. Out of all the possible candidates they could have chosen, they chose Brendan Eich. CEO's are extremely important to an organization. Their ideas, beliefs, philosophies, and personalities drive organizations".
Catlin writes the following letter to Mozilla:
Dear Mozilla,
As a married gay couple who are co-founders of this venture, we have chosen to boycott all Mozilla projects. We will not develop apps or test styles on Firefox anymore.
Effective today, we're removing Color Puzzle from the Firefox Marketplace and stopping work on all of our Firefox-related applications, notably the about-to-launch Firefox version of the popular Dictionary! app for iPhone and Android.
This is in protest of the appointment of Brendan Eich to the position of CEO of the Mozilla Foundation, where he had previously served as CTO.
We will continue our boycott until Brendan Eich is completely removed from any day to day activities at Mozilla, which we believe is extremely unlikely after all he’s survived and the continued support he has received from Mozilla.
This makes us very sad, as we love the little guy fighting to make things better. But it’s because of our status as a minority that we simply can’t ignore this slap in the face of giving him a promotion to lead your organization.
Sincerely,
Hampton Catlin
As you can see, Catlin loves Firefox, and is very torn and upset by the boycott. While Brendan Eich has the right to believe anything he wants, that belief comes with consequences. Obviously, a loss of developers and a blemish on Mozilla and Firefox are just a few, and it will be interesting to see how both the company and CEO react.
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As de-facto public figures, no corporate CEO could support neo-Nazis or the KKK. Anti-gay oppression is the same damn thing! It's un-American and must not be tolerated. Moreover anti-gay animus must be called out wherever and whenever its discovered.
So what can we do...? In my position with my employer, I have a choice about which browser to use. From now on, it will be a conscious decision to avoid Firefox, unless and until Mozilla and its new CEO make this right. Mr. Eich, as a fellow American certainly has the right to believe in and support hatred, but as one of the oppressed, I have the right to call him out on it and let his corporate employer and it's shareholders know that those hateful beliefs come with a cost and I encourage others to do the same.
"Fear Eats the Soul"
This issue is finally gaining some traction... This comment was one of the best that I read over on Towleroad yesterday. It sums up my thoughts perfectly:
ReplyDeleteNo doubt many will mistakenly attempt to frame this as a freedom of speech issue.
This is not a case of the government stepping in and censoring his speech or his political contributions— he can still speak out about the issue, and he can even give more money to groups fighting against our rights.
His First Amendment rights remain in tact.
But free speech doesn't always mean consequence-free speech— and contributing to causes like Prop 8 is also not without consequences. Just ask The Dixie Chicks.
Just as he is free to his views, everyone else is free to theirs, including Mozilla's employees, volunteers, customers, and the general public. So, while he isn't being censored, he is, in a way, be CENSURED by the free market of ideas.
If he had given money to fight against interracial marriage, or had given money to the KKK, we wouldn't be having this conversation, because everyone would know that behavior isn't what the majority of our society considers acceptable.
I often hear so many LGBT people say that we should just shut up and not complain when straights use "gay" or "tranny" in bad ways. We should let that behavior slide. That to complain and stand up for ourselves makes us just like the bigots that condemn us.
They are wrong.
This is how we get to were we want to be, to the place where people will realize that saying "faggot" is just as unacceptable as saying "the N-word", and it is not a witch hunt. Just like the blacks in the 1960s, we have to teach people how to treat us.
We have to demand respect.
It's up to us to define the new normal.
POSTED BY: MIKE | MAR 27, 2014 8:26:23 PM