OkCupid vs Firefox
OkCupid is a strong supporter of gay rights – so much so that they are asking users to stop accessing their site through Firefox.
Mozilla’s newly appointed CEO, Brendan Eich, donated $1000 to Proposition 8, the 2008 California measure banning gay marriage. His appointment has seen dissent throughout the company’s rank, including their board of directors, and now OkCupid is publically voicing their concern with Eich running the popular Internet server.
With all of the commotion this small donation has caused, Eich announced that he would be resigning as CEO.
The following statement was released by OkCupid and seen by users accessing the site through Firefox:
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.
Politics is normally not the business of a website, and we all know there’s a lot more wrong with the world than misguided CEOs. So you might wonder why we’re asserting ourselves today. This is why: we’ve devoted the last ten years to bringing people—all people—together. If individuals like Mr. Eich had their way, then roughly 8% of the relationships we’ve worked so hard to bring about would be illegal. 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.
If you want to keep using Firefox, the link at the bottom will take you through to the site.
However, we urge you to consider different software for accessing OkCupid.
A spokesperson for Mozilla says Eich does not represent the beliefs of the company as a whole.
“Mozilla supports equality for all, including marriage equality for LGBT couples,” Mozilla said. “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.”
