Thursday, April 3, 2014

Free speech vs. Equality

America stands for both but as the article notes very difficult compromises need to be made.
Of course you can seek protection under the (broad) umbrella of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Still courts have now been consistently delivering the message that anti-gay viewpoints will lose out (however anti-women measures such as banning of aborti-facients will probably be still OK).

 

That said some one must feel the pain of being a true-blue social conservative in Silicon valley. The moment you dare to come out of YOUR closet (aka exercise your free-speech rights) the Hounds of the Bay-ville will be after you. They will tear out your heart out and eat it (with some fava beans and a nice glass of chianti). What a pity. But then again it must have been glorious for Brendan Eich to die for his belief that gays should not get married. All movements need (and feed on) martyrs, so this should be a red-letter day for the anti gay-rights cause.


Mozilla, the company behind the popular Firefox web browser, on Friday announced that their controversial CEO Brendan Eich is resigning.

Eich has been under fire for his views on gay marriage and gay rights. He reportedly donated $1,000 to an anti-gay organization that lobbied for ban on same-sex marriages in California in 2008.

When Eich became Mozilla CEO on March 24, a controversy started over his views on same-sex marriage. Many Mozilla employees took to Twitter to register their displeasure at Eich's views. A few days ago, Ok Cupid, a dating website, said that it would be asking its users to change their web browser if they were using Firefox because of Eich's position on same-sex marriage.


The resignation comes a day after Eich said that he would not resign for his personal beliefs.

In a blog post, executive chairwoman at Mozilla Mitchell Baker, wrote, "Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He's made this decision for Mozilla and our community ... Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard."

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regards

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