Dating website OKCupid has sought to deter its users from accessing the website through Mozilla Firefox. This appeal comes days after Mozilla employees called for newly appointed CEO Brendan Eich’s resignation.
Firefox users are served with a message calling out Eich to step down from the position of CEO, for his support of California’s Proposition 8, highlighting his $1000 donation made in 2008.
“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,” read the message for Firefox users. “We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid.”
Christian Rudder, OKCupid co-founder, wrote, “Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame, and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure.”
Rudder also added that it’s the decision of the four founders of OKCupid to post the message on the website after discussing Eich’s appointment as Mozilla’s CEO over the weekend.
A Mozilla spokesman, in response to the OKCupid’s protest, issued an official statement “Mozilla 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. OkCupid never reached out to us to let us know of their intentions, nor to confirm facts.”
This is not the first controversy Mozilla is facing following Eich’s appointment as CEO. Last week, three of the company’s board members, Gary Kovacks, John Lilly, and Ellen Siminoff resigned from their board positions. Several employees of Mozilla took their disappointment publicly claiming that Eich’s personal beliefs contradict the company’s values.
