As a Mozilla employee that strongly supports the right of all persons to marry, let me be the first to say: who the hell cares? At the end of the day, what he believes doesn't matter to me or anyone else.
I think something like this should be relevant. Social pressure is a good way to encourage someone to discard outdated beliefs like this.
If he had donated $1000 to a fund opposing inter-racial marriage, or to a fund opposing voting rights for a class of citizens, would you still feel the same way?
If he had donated $1000 to a fund opposing inter-racial marriage…
Bravo. This is exactly the argument we should make. If he had donated to pass an anti-miscegenation law, we would all know it was wrong.
You're free to believe whatever you want. You're free to believe men and women marrying men and women is wrong. You're free to believe that whites marrying blacks is wrong. It IS supposed to be a free country.
But when you donate to pass a law about it, it changes from belief to infringement on rights.
Recall the volley of stories about sexism in tech and the ensuing discussions on HN over the last couple of weeks. A lot of people on HN seemed to care about those and what those people believed.
This is not to promote a particular viewpoint, other than.. well, it seems people do care about what other people's beliefs are, even on HN.
You and I might disagree on tax policy... that's fine! We might disagree on flavors of ice cream too! We're still fine. But, when you say that I have no right to call my husband my husband. And the very idea that I have a loving relationship with him that the government might recognize and treat equally with a same-sex couple. That very idea prompts you to go google for "nom", then find the donation page, you then have to go get your wallet, you then have to fill out the form on the site, then you type in the credit card number (check it twice!), you then click donate. All of that action was precipitated by the very thought of me and my husband being married. Remember, Prop 8 happened after gay marriage was legal in California. I'm far less offended by Westboro, because they have no concept of what they are doing. They function in a crazy world that is separate from ours. To know that a fellow language inventor has such feeling about me... that is hard to describe... and is different than a normal political disagreeance.
Maybe this is being overprecise and I share your viewpoint here, but singling out Brendan is perhaps best left until he shares his side of the story. This could be a mistake/error in accounting. I don't know how the US donation system works and if that's likely at all, but..
Of course, if it isn't a mistake, I totally agree. I just find something published by the LA Times to be.. well.. not a real guarantee of authenticity.
Brendan refuses to share his side of the story. I asked him on his Facebook page and in a personal message, and he deleted the post and blocked me.
Friends of mine who know him say that Brendan subscribes to a lot of crazy ideas. So no, it's not a big misunderstanding that he supports Proposition 8 and hates gays.
I need to be more tolerant towards people who think I don't deserve legal equality because of who I'm sexually and romantically attracted to? Sorry, that's a hard sell.
Now, I know it’s very difficult for people to understand, but there’s a very simple and easy way to never be called a bigot or a homophobe: don’t do bigoted or homophobic shit, like, for instance, giving money to a campaign to deny people basic human rights on the basis of their sexual orientation.
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A few people expressing their disappointment with Brendan’s actions on Twitter and other sites is absolutely not anything like bigotry. Saying it is means you don’t understand. That’s what makes me most angry: that people don’t fucking listen to people in the LGBT community or seem to understand the reason why we are angry.
And, no, you don’t get to tell me to calm down or that I need to “tolerate” people who are oppressing people in my situation. No, sorry, that’s worse than supporting Prop 8. Homophobia? Sure. Whatever. That sucks and makes you stupid and disappointing. Telling me that I have to keep my trap shut about oppression because the oppressors are actually the oppressed… that’s just grade A bullshit.
This isn’t Fox News with all that “there are two sides and the truth is somewhere in the middle” crap.
Brendan Eich’s actions are homophobic and disappointing.
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Lack of equal rights does material harm to gay people. People are not able to live with their partners due to shitty immigration laws or access health services. Lack of equality in law permits every minor-league bigot from the schoolroom to the boardroom the feeling they have a right to tease and torment. When the suicides stop and the violence stops, maybe we’ll talk about how the homophobes are the victims too. Until then, in order to seem fair and balanced and above-the-fray, people miss the whole reason why this is an issue.
Eich is not just the inventor of Javascript, he's also the CTO of an organization that prides itself on being open and tolerant. I really can't support an organization where the CTO supports bills that cause the opposite.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. I have no interest in what another party believes, but when they actively contribute money and resources to legitimize discrimination and persecution against a group of people, I'll make it my business to work against them in the form of public shaming, boycott or financial contributions of my own to make it stop.
If he had donated $1000 to a fund opposing inter-racial marriage, or to a fund opposing voting rights for a class of citizens, would you still feel the same way?