In an interview published Wednesday,
Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich refused to answer where he stands on the
issue of marriage equality.
Eich's ascent to CEO last week prompted
a backlash over his $1,000 donation to the campaign to approve
Proposition 8, California's 2008 voter-approved constitutional
amendment restricting marriage to heterosexual couples. Proposition
8 stood until last year, when the Supreme Court left in place a lower
court ruling knocking it down.
Multiple employees publicly asked Eich
to step down and at least one developer has said it will no longer
develop apps for the browser. Dating site OkCupid on Monday called
on users to dump Mozilla's popular Firefox Web browser.
Over the weekend, Mozilla reiterated
its support for marriage equality.
But while Eich has expressed his
“sorrow at having caused pain” and pledged to reach out to the
LGBT community, he's not weighed in on the subject.
“I prefer not to talk about my
beliefs,” Eich answered when CNET.com
asked him how he felt about “gay marriage rights.”
“One of the things about my
principles of inclusiveness is not just that you leave it at the
door, but that you don't require others to put targets on themselves
by labeling their beliefs, because that will present problems and
will be seen as divisive,” he said.
Eich added that Mozilla “is under
threat here.”
“If Mozilla cannot continue to
operate according to its principles of inclusiveness, where you can
work on the mission no matter what your background or other beliefs,
I think we'll probably fail,” he added.