Mozilla CEO forced out because of Prop 8 Donation

[Indy Texas]

I think we have to remember that in a post-Citizens America, money=speech.

By donating to a campaign in support of Proposition 8, Eich was engaging in behavior that was equivalent to if he went to a public rally and gave a speech declaring he believes same-sex couples should not be allowed to marry.

I don't think that in and of itself is a problem and I certainly don't think he or anyone else should be allowed to be fired by their employer for expressing their personal views through speech or through speech-equivalent money.

Obviously, for 99% of Americans, this isn't an issue. Hardly anyone donates money to candidates or campaigns and an even smaller portion give a large enough amount that it has to be publicly disclosed.

If Eich were fired by Mozilla, that would be just as wrong as if Chick-fil-A fired an hourly employee for going to a gay rights rally on their own time.

But let's remember also that CEOs are not like other employees. They play a different role, have an outsized salary and benefits to go along with that role and ought to be subject to a different set of standards by virtue of their role as the de facto public face of the company.

Eich was right to resign because as an open and avowed anti-gay individual (there really is no other way to describe someone who refuses to allow LGBT people the same rights as everyone else in the year 2014 - they are anti-gay, pure and simple) he would not have been able to present the sort of tolerant, forward-looking image that Mozilla and other technology companies strive to present to the public. If you can't do your job effectively, you need to find a different job. That is the crucial difference. If he was simply some faceless developer, it should be a non-issue. If he was an intern answering the phone, it should be a non-issue.