From the Desk

In a resignation that sparked uproar, Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich recently stepped down from his position at the company less than two weeks after assuming the role.

Shortly after his appointment as CEO, Eich and Mozilla began taking criticism tied to a $1,000 contribution made by Eich in support of California’s Proposition 8 in 2008. The measure, which was ultimately declared unconstitutional, was intended to keep same-sex couples from marrying.

“I have decided to resign as CEO effective April 3, and leave Mozilla,” Eich said in a statement. “Our mission is bigger than any one of us, and under the present circumstances, I cannot be an effective leader.”

After the resignation of its leader, Mozilla executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker was quick to admit that the situation was handled poorly.

“We have employees with a wide diversity of views,” Baker said. “Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public.

This is meant to distinguish Mozilla from most organizations and hold us to a higher standard. But this time, we failed to listen, to engage and to be guided by our community.”

Mozilla emphasized in a company blog post that Eich chose to resign without any pressure from the board, going so far as to ask him to “stay at Mozilla in another role or to stay actively involved … as a volunteer contributor,” an offer that Eich declined. Despite the company’s best efforts at making peace, the entire situation has become a public relations nightmare.

For example, before Eich’s resignation, dating website OkCupid began asking its users not to access their website through Mozilla’s Firefox browser, further fueling the outrage over Eich’s six-year-old contribution. Now that Eich has stepped down and appeased gay marriage proponents, opposing sides have labeled Mozilla intolerant of Eich’s beliefs and Eich intolerant of same-sex couples.

As Eich and Mozilla executives can attest to, making decisions in complicated situations like this can be incredibly difficult. Gay marriage proponents and opponents alike do not have to look far to find someone to blame for the controversy, yet I am not convinced that gay marriage is the issue here.

Gay marriage is obviously an important issue to many people, or Eich’s business cards would still read “Mozilla CEO.” However, I believe that the real issue is whether or not people who promote diversity, inclusiveness and equality actually practice what they preach.

Although Eich did resign and was not “forced out,” the pressure that led to his resignation points to a blatant double standard that has become commonplace nowadays — one that encourages diversity, unless, of course, your particular brand of diversity opposes gay marriage.

Imagine if Eich had chosen to remain CEO and Mozilla stuck by their decision to hire him. It certainly would not have been the most popular move ever made in the corporate world, but if Mozilla hired Eich in the first place, they must have believed he was the right person for the job.

After all, the whole point of diversity, inclusiveness and equality in the workplace is to be able to look past things like sexual orientation, skin color, economic status or political views and see what really matters — in this case, Eich’s ability to do his job.

Society’s so-called standards of acceptance are failing. If we hope to truly uphold the ideals that we claim to believe in, businesses and corporations must learn the true definition of diversity, and individuals must be allowed to express their convictions freely, regardless of a difference of opinion.