OKCupid members arriving at the site via a Firefox browser today are being asked to make a choice and stand up against anti-gay bigotry. At the center of the controversy is Firefox's new CEO, Brendan Eich, who donated money in support of California Prop 8 back in 2008. Visitors to the site browsing with Firefox received a special message from OKCupid stating, “Hello there, Mozilla Firefox user. Pardon this interruption of your OkCupid experience. Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples. We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid.” Visitors were then offered redirect tabs to download alternatives to the Mozilla Firefox web browser. The move is a bold piece of activism in a tech industry becoming more willing to flex its political muscle. The Prop 8 ballot measure instituted a statewide ban on gay marriage in California after winning at the polls with the help of large donations from the right wing. It temporarily redefined marriage in California as specifically a union between a man and a woman. Prop 8 was struck down on June 26, 2013 after all appeals to the original 2010 ruling against the issue were exhausted. Eich made a $1,000 donation in support of Prop 8 back in 2008 but the donation went unnoticed by gay rights proponents until he was appointed to his new position. “His donation was known to Mozilla at the time of his promotion, and, furthermore, CEOs are rewarded based on their company’s performance,” OKCupid stated. “The CEO is the visionary for a company and its products. We are sad to think that any OkCupid page loads would even indirectly contribute towards the success of an individual who supported Prop 8—and who for all we know would support it again. We wish Mozilla’s institutional commitment to freedom and openness were better reflected by their choice of leadership.” Mozilla announced Eich's appointment to the position of CEO on their Twitter feed on March 24. By March 29 Mozilla was in damage control mode, releasing a Twitter stating “Mozilla supports LGBT equality. Read more from Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker.” In Baker's attached statement she says, “Speaking as the Chairwoman, I want to speak clearly on behalf of both the Mozilla Corporation and the Mozilla Foundation: Mozilla supports equality for all, explicitly including LGBT equality and marriage equality.” OKCupid, ranked by Alexa.com among the world's 500 highest traffic websites, does not appear to think a company statement in support of LGBT equality is enough and is continuing to redirect its users to download other browsers. The Mozilla Firefox owes its share of the web browser market to being an open source project and a strong voice for internet freedom. It is widely viewed by its users as an independent alternative to the browsers offered by the giants of the tech industry. Mozilla used its own activist voice as a strong opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), participating as a sponsor of the Jan. 2012 "Internet Black-out" day. The event, which lead to the defeat of SOPA in congress, was regarded as the quirky tech industry's passage into political maturity. It is unclear if anything short of Eich's resignation from the CEO post will dissuade OKCupid from telling its users to dump Mozilla Firefox. Source: The Outsider