Firefox defends new CEO who donated money to ban gays from marrying

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Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox web browser, says it’s “deeply committed to honouring diversity” – despite appointing a chief executive who financially backed efforts to ban equal marriage in California.

Brendan Eich on Monday was appointed CEO of Mozilla. The American computer programmer and creator of the JavaScript scripting language is a co-founder of Mozilla.

It was revealed in 2012 that Mr Eich donated $1,000 (£605) in 2008 to the campaign supporting California’s Proposition 8, whilst he was Mozilla’s chief technology officer.

The Prop 8 law banned same-sex marriages in the state and was finally struck down by the US Supreme after years of legal battles in June 2013.

In a statement to PinkNews on Wednesday, a Mozilla spokesperson said: “Mozilla has always been deeply committed to honouring diversity in sexual orientation and beliefs within our staff and community, across all the project’s activities. With thousands of people spanning many countries and cultures, diversity is core to who we are, and we’re united in our mission to keep the Web open and accessible for everyone.”

Mozilla refused to say whether it or Mr Eich supported equal marriage.

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