Am i allowed to use Firefox if I do not support gay marriage?
Do you hold customers and users to the same standards that you hold your leaders? If not, why not? If opposing gay marriage is disqualifies a person to be your leader, then perhaps it should disqualify such
a person to be your customer or user as well. If one's beliefs on this subject can be so awful that one can get fired for having them, then I guess the same belief is awful for a user as well, and he or she should be barred from using your service.
I support traditional marriage, not gay marriage. I take the same position our President did up until a
couple of years ago. Should he have been disqualified from using Firefox then, and reinstated once he made a public profession of belief in gay marriage? Was he evil back then, but converted to good now?
I will wait for your answer before using my Firefox again. Up until this week I was very satisfied with your
product. If it comes with a need for me to deny my beliefs to be a part of your community, then I will sadly understand, but will gladly support your right to choose whatever religious test you want to have in your community. I must say, though, that I preferred the time when Firefox was just a program. I think that the fewer of these religious tests we all have the better.
Thank you for your time in reading this. I wish you God's blessing… the same that I wish for any
homosexual. I just cannot support gay marriage.
Dave Kresh
Chosen solution
Hello Dave, thanks for taking the time inquiring about the issue instead of just silently turning your back on us. You might spare a minute or two to go through these bits of information trying to clear up a some of the misconceptions that are flying around. Unfortunately some media outlets will rather publish sensationalized stories generating many clicks and increased revenue by ads than perform the most basic fact-checking:
http://blog.gerv.net/2014/04/your-ire-is-misdirected/
https://medium.com/p/7645a4bf8a2
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/04/05/faq-on-ceo-resignation/
If it were for Mozilla alone Brendan didn't have to leave - we would like nothing better than to rehire Brendan. In fact, we didn't want him to leave in the first place. However it was his personal decision to resign among all this ongoing frenzy, threats and mischaracterization of him as a person and the Mozilla community coming from third-parties, in order for the constant bombardment to end and to avert any further damage to Mozilla and its mission that he helped build for many years in such an essential role.
So in this sad process we have lost a co-founder and brilliant technical mind and now the "other side" of the political spectrum comes along, again very quick rushing to judgement, bashing our community and voicing calls for boycotts against our products.
This is quite sad & Mozilla has not deserved to be in the middle of all of this. I fully agree with you when you said that the fewer of these religious tests we all have the better. Our community exists to protect the Web by promoting openness, innovation and opportunity which should be the one goal we unite around, no matter which views we might have otherwise.
Thank you!
Read this answer in context 👍 2All Replies (7)
There are multiple employees at Mozilla who do not support Gay Marriage. As for the recent news stories about our CEO leaving, many news reports, trying to get sensational headlines to increase clicks, erroneously stated that Brenden was forced out of Mozilla. That is not true, he voluntarily resigned. Please read https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/04/05/faq-on-ceo-resignation/ for more information.
Mozilla is an open organization that accept and welcomes people of all beliefs and ideas.
Chosen Solution
Hello Dave, thanks for taking the time inquiring about the issue instead of just silently turning your back on us. You might spare a minute or two to go through these bits of information trying to clear up a some of the misconceptions that are flying around. Unfortunately some media outlets will rather publish sensationalized stories generating many clicks and increased revenue by ads than perform the most basic fact-checking:
http://blog.gerv.net/2014/04/your-ire-is-misdirected/
https://medium.com/p/7645a4bf8a2
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/04/05/faq-on-ceo-resignation/
If it were for Mozilla alone Brendan didn't have to leave - we would like nothing better than to rehire Brendan. In fact, we didn't want him to leave in the first place. However it was his personal decision to resign among all this ongoing frenzy, threats and mischaracterization of him as a person and the Mozilla community coming from third-parties, in order for the constant bombardment to end and to avert any further damage to Mozilla and its mission that he helped build for many years in such an essential role.
So in this sad process we have lost a co-founder and brilliant technical mind and now the "other side" of the political spectrum comes along, again very quick rushing to judgement, bashing our community and voicing calls for boycotts against our products.
This is quite sad & Mozilla has not deserved to be in the middle of all of this. I fully agree with you when you said that the fewer of these religious tests we all have the better. Our community exists to protect the Web by promoting openness, innovation and opportunity which should be the one goal we unite around, no matter which views we might have otherwise.
Thank you!
dkresh, Mozilla knew about this 2008 donation since 2011 due to a article written about it at time. It became known due to California law where the name, employer has to be given and donation is made public record.
I get the feeling you are under the misconception it was only after he moved from CTO to CEO that Mozilla found out and then must have fired him.
Mozilla does support Equality which includes LGBT. https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/03/29/mozilla-supports-lgbt-equality/
You should ask first if there is information explaining what has happened with Brendan before having your say.
Modified by James
Thank you Tyler, I was extremely pleased to get such a cogent and personalized reply so quickly. This is the first time that I have posted to any blog, and wasn't really expecting an answer, let alone a quick one. In dealing with many company's "Customer Service" I have gotten used to waiting a long time and having to recall myself many times to get an answer. Mozilla is certainly something different.
Thank you for pointing me in the direction of the ceo_resignation blog. It was a good starting point for me to learn an awful lot in one afternoon!
I have come to the conclusion that I have no personal problem using Firefox. I like the product now even more than I already did, partly due to the professional way you responded personally, and based on many things that I have read since receiving your response.
Thanks again, dave kresh
P.S. - Why do you capitalize "Gay Marriage"?
Hi Phillip
I am new to the blogosphere and to Mozilla, and I am not sure I am doing this right. I wanted to respond to each of the responses I received from folks at Mozilla, but could only acknowledge the first one after I marked my problem as "Solved".
YOUR RESPONSE WAS FANTASTIC!
I had already received another response that led me to the ceo-resignation link, which was a great starting point in my personal investigation.
Your other two links were "pure gold".
The "gerv " link brought me in touch with a person with whom I agree on this issue who is polite and articulate and sincere. The "medium.com" link brought me in touch with a person with whom I disagree on this issue who is polite and articulate and sincere.
Your response brought me the best of both worlds. I could not ask for a better reply.
But i received an even better one in your last 2 paragraphs. Your personal response was very moving. I also felt that this is a "sad proceess", and was saddened to hear your side of the story. But also heartened to read the encouraging thoughts from yourself and Gerv and David.
I have no problem using Firefox as a result of your response. Thanks for solving my problem.
And giving me much more than just a solution.
dave kresh
Hey again Dave, thanks for your kind feedback - let me assure you that it is very much appreciated after all the negativity we came across the last days! And nice to hear that you will stick with Firefox too - should you come across a technical issue or problem once were you need help with, you know where to find us now (because providing technical support for Mozilla products is the purpose of this forum under normal circumstances) ;-)
Hi James,
>> Thank you for answering my question.
Thank you for your reply dkresh, Mozilla knew about this 2008 donation since 2011 due to a article written about it at time. It became known due to California law where the name, employer has to be given and donation is made public record.
>> By following some links I was given by Tyler and Phillip, I learned a lot more >> yesterday afternoon about Mozilla and Brendan, and a little bit more than >> I can digest about California law. I am still not sure what happened there, >> but as a resident of Pennsylvania, I will be pleased to let you all sort that >> out without further comment on my part.
I get the feeling you are under the misconception it was only after he moved from CTO to CEO that Mozilla found out and then must have fired him.
>> Yes, you are right. This was a misconception that I had. I am not sure if this >> came from something that I have read or heard, or if it was the product >> of my own sometimes-too-fertile-imagination. I am very happy to have >> found out that Mozilla did not fire Brendan. For what my opinion is worth, >> it seems to me that both Brendan and Mozilla have acted very honorably >> in this matter.
>> I am sure I still have many more misconceptions about this and many >> other things, but I think I am much closer to the truth today than I was >> yesterday. (Hopefully this is not another misconception of mine ;-) )
Mozilla does support Equality which includes LGBT.
>> Why do you capitalize the word "Equality"?
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/03/29/mozilla-supports-lgbt-equality/
>> This link was very helpful to me, as was the section I read somewhere in >> my online travels yesterday that gave Mozilla's Inclusion and Diversity >> position. I think Mozilla is doing a very good job grappling with these >> difficult issues and trying to find a way through the maze of conflicting >> values in our current culture. It sounds like a difficult job today being the >> manager in charge of Inclusion and Diversity.
You should ask first if there is information explaining what has happened with Brendan before having your say.
>> At first I was a little miffed by this comment, but then a came to agree with >> it (better to be silent and thought stupid than to open one's mouth and >> remove all doubt ;-)). But finally I am glad I spoke up. I have learned a lot >> in the past 24 hours, and I am afraid that I wouldn't have done so had I >> said nothing. I assumed that what I had already seen, heard, and read >> explained what has happened with Brendan, but I had a lot more to learn. >> I didn't know where to learn that, but was very pleased and unexpectedly >> surprised to get all that from Mozilla Support.
>> I think you are all doing a terrific job. I apologize if I have taken up too >> much of your time with a non-technical issue, but appreciate all of your >> responses. I suspect mine was not the only nontechnical question you >> fielded in the past few days, and imagine you have been quite busy. >> Hopefully you will be able to return soon to coding and resolving technical >> issues ;-).
thanks again,
dave kresh