"Gay marriage" has nothing to do with OSS web browsers. 'tis a dark world where people cannot work toward common goals when their views on completely unrelated subjects differ.
If the owner of my neighborhood coffee shop had gone on record as supporting SOPA/PIPA/et al, I would be strongly inclined to stop going to that coffeeshop and giving them any of my money. I would also tell my friends about the situation so that they might also take similar actions if they felt so inclined.
I can tell you that, in the context of this hypothetical situation, any arguments that my actions are uncalled-for because "coffee has nothing to do with the Internet" would not have much impact on me.
What if it was a co-operative store selling coffee and only the main manager was supporting SOPA? That's more like how the Firefox situation is. These boycotts will inevitably hurt Mozilla employees as a whole, both gay and straight -- way more than they will hurt Eich personally.
I try to avoid using Javascript whenever possible, though that has nothing to do with Brendan Eich. And just to clarify, my hypothetical was in response to one specific argument. I didn't say that I personally was joining those calling to boycott Firefox. I honestly don't know how I feel, because it's not a simple matter. But I object to those who argue that it is a simple matter.
If it was possible, we'd have ditched JavaScript a long time ago. People seem upset over the fact that Mozilla leadership is choosing a person that admits to wanting to discriminate. People seem far less concerned about what assorted engineers might think or do.
While I might take a similar stand against the hypothetical coffee shop, I believe your analogy misses an additional point. Opposing gay marriage is favoring discrimination against gay people. It's detrimental to the organization and the community for someone apparently prejudiced against gay people to lead Mozilla, which appears to be the case.
We'll see how the promised inclusivity efforts go. If he's genuinely committed to inclusivity, great! For the moment, however, I have reservations.
Perhaps people have a problem with hypocrisy? He's "committed to inclusivity", but we know from personal actions that he isn't really, and would be happy if governments and society continued to discriminate.
I think to a lot of people its not completely unrelated subjects. How can someone say they strive for an "inclusive" work environment when they hold non-inclusive beliefs? Do we really believe that Mozilla can foster an inclusive work environment? Can we believe Brendan Eich? All of these things affect the work atmosphere at Mozilla and in tern the software that is developed there.
This isn't about respecting beliefs, this is about the CEO of mozilla and if we can believe him and how his beliefs can and will affect the company.
