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Building a Global, Diverse, Inclusive Mozilla Project: Addressing Controversy

37 points by fabrice_d 13y ago

deleted 13y ago
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gkoberger 13y ago
Site is intermittently down: ---------- Monday’s announcement of Brendan Eich as the new CEO of Mozilla brought a lot of reactions. Many people were excited about what this meant for Mozilla, and our emphasis on protecting the open Web. In the next few days we’ll see more from Brendan and the leadership team on the opportunities in front of us. Before that, however, both Brendan and I want to address a particular concern that has been raised about Mozilla’s commitment to inclusiveness for LGBT individuals and community, and whether Brendan’s role as CEO might diminish this commitment at Mozilla. The short answer: Mozilla’s commitment to inclusiveness for our LGBT community, and for all underrepresented groups, will not change. Acting for or on behalf of Mozilla, it is unacceptable to limit opportunity for anyone based on the nature of sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This is not only a commitment, it is our identity. This commitment is a key requirement for all leadership within Mozilla, including for the CEO, and Brendan shares this commitment as the new Chief Executive Officer. Second, I’ll point to Brendan’s comments [1] on this topic. Third, I’ll note that two years ago we had an open conversation and co-creation process about how we make sure our community supports all members, including all forms of gender and sexual orientation. The process, with me as the draftsperson, resulted in the Community Participation Guidelines [2]. These Guidelines mandate that (1) each of us must be inclusive of all community members, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and more, and (2) any exclusionary approach you might practice elsewhere must be left at the door, and not be brought into Mozilla’s spaces. We expect everyone, regardless of role or title, to be committed to the breadth of inclusiveness described in the Guidelines. These Guidelines are in addition to our inclusive and non-discriminatory policies which apply particularly to employees. As a practical, concrete example we’ve also been pushing the boundaries to offer excellent health benefits across the board, to domestic partners and all married couples, same-sex and otherwise. My experience is that Brendan is as committed to opportunity and diversity inside Mozilla as anyone, and more so than many. This commitment to opportunity for all within Mozilla has been a key foundation of our work for many years. I see it in action regularly. The CEO role is obviously a key role, with a large amount of authority. The CEO must have a commitment to the inclusive nature of Mozilla. This includes of course a commitment to the Community Participation Guidelines, inclusive HR practices and the spirit that underlies them. Brendan has made this commitment. Finally, I’ve been asked a few times about my own personal views, and so I’ll add a short comment. I am an avid supporter of equal rights for all. I support equal rights for the LGBT community, I support equal rights for underrepresented groups, and I have some pretty radical views about the role of underrepresented groups in social institutions. I was surprised in 2012 to learn that Brendan and I aren’t in close alignment here, since I’ve never seen any indication of anything other than inclusiveness in our work together. I spend most of my time focused on building an open Internet, which I think is a required infrastructure for empowerment for everyone and where I think I can add something that’s tricky to replace. If I weren’t doing this, I’d probably be spending a good chunk of my life focused more directly on equality issues. [1] https://brendaneich.com/2014/03/inclusiveness-at-mozilla/ https://brendaneich.com/2014/03/inclusiveness-at-mozilla/ [2] http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/participation/ http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/parti...
nnethercote 13y ago
Mitchell and Brendan have always been the heart and soul of Mozilla's leadership. While Brendan's appointment as CEO might result in some changes in where Mozilla directs its efforts, it won't cause changes in the culture; that will remain as open and inclusive as it has always been. Also, everyone who has an opinion on this topic should read what Christie Koehler -- someone who most definitely has skin in this game -- wrote about Brendan's appointment: http://subfictional.com/2014/03/24/on-brendan-eich-as-ceo-of-mozilla/ http://subfictional.com/2014/03/24/on-brendan-eich-as-ceo-of...
natrius 13y ago
I don't think anyone's really worried that Mozilla is going to stop being inclusive. They want to punish Brendan Eich for opposing marriage equality. Saying that Mozilla won't change isn't going to change people's minds. Personally, I don't see much of a gain to be had here. If it were a for-profit company, I'd probably boycott them, not because it helps the cause of marriage equality at all, but because punishing people who are jerks feels good. But it's Mozilla, an organization whose goals I support. I don't care if it's led by a jerk. Punishing him doesn't make the world a better place at all.
- victorhooi 13y ago
  The below isn't necessarily targeted at the parent post, but just at anybody who's resorting to name-calling, or claiming only their viewpoint is correct. <rant> You claim that "punishing jerks feels good". I'm sorry, but this just comes across as silly internet power-tripping. And who are you to claim somebody is a "jerk". Brendan Eichs has personal beliefs, which I presume you don't agree with. Whoop-de-do. Somebody is on the internet who you don't agree with. Cry me a river. In the olden days, gentleman would simply say, we agree to disagree, and leave it at that. Now, in this age of entitlement, every little boy in his mum's basement just has to get everybody to agree with him, because other peopel ARE WRONG (according to me). You're free to write blog posts saying you disagree with him. Or if you think he's wrong, you can even talk to him directly - in fact, he made a offer that he's happy to speak to anybody in private about it. If anything, he comes across as the bigger person. However, to go around saying, "BRENDAN IS A JERK" - sure, you're "free" to do it - free speech and all, but seriously, it comes across as immature and childish... </rant> However, I agree with the rest of your post - Mozilla does good work. I don't use their browser, but they do a lot for the open-source movement.
  - HeyImAlex 13y ago
    These are areas of grey; on one end you probably would say that a white supremacist campaigning for the reinstatement of slavery is kind of a jerk, and on the other you probably wouldn't bat an eye if a guy told you he prefers orange juice to apple. There is no magic in the word "opinion" that gives immunity to criticism. It is then up to us to define where that line lies.
joeframbach 13y ago
Could someone explain why this needed to be said? Is there some controversy that I'm unaware of?
- quasque 13y ago
  Apparently the new CEO actively opposes same-sex marriage: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7459529 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7459529 EDIT: why the downvotes? This is exactly what lending financial support to the Californian Proposition 8 implies.
- bsder 13y ago
  Because the Mozilla Foundation board underestimated the amount of flak they were going to get for appointing someone who is anti-LGBT as their CEO. This is inflamed by the fact that Eich has refused to apologize for this. Therefore, everyone is making the, quite justified, assumption that he believes in his anti-LGBT positions quite strongly.
  - davidgerard 13y ago
    The amazing thing about this whole kerfuffle is that, apparently, LITERALLY NO-ONE AT MOZILLA realised that this would be THE STORY. They appointed Brendan Eich CEO and LITERALLY DIDN'T ACCOUNT FOR THIS IN ANY WAY. If they had the slightest awareness of their environment, they would have started the softening-up PR months ago, when he started moving toward the CEO role. They could have had everything nicely calm. But no ...
asdfologist 13y ago
One thing in common among many HN comments on this issue is the sentiment that we shouldn't care about a CEO's political views. Perhaps this argument would be somewhat convincing if his actions affected exclusively people outside the company, but keep in mind that he contributed $1000 to a cause that directly removes marriage rights of a large portion of society, some of whom are his very own employees that he's about to lead. For those of you who insist that all this is "just politics", would you say the same if he contributed $1000 to a campaign to bring back slavery? What about a campaign to remove women's voting rights? One thing for sure - the degree of uproar would be drastically higher in those cases, and that's precisely the problem.
merrua 13y ago
It's not really a good sign to pick someone who does not understand equality for the board. I mean, how is that going to turn off contributors. Does he even speak anything other than english?

37 points by fabrice_d 13y ago

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

gkoberger 13y ago

Site is intermittently down: ---------- Monday’s announcement of Brendan Eich as the new CEO of Mozilla brought a lot of reactions. Many people were excited about what this meant for Mozilla, and our emphasis on protecting the open Web. In the next few days we’ll see more from Brendan and the leadership team on the opportunities in front of us. Before that, however, both Brendan and I want to address a particular concern that has been raised about Mozilla’s commitment to inclusiveness for LGBT individuals and community, and whether Brendan’s role as CEO might diminish this commitment at Mozilla. The short answer: Mozilla’s commitment to inclusiveness for our LGBT community, and for all underrepresented groups, will not change. Acting for or on behalf of Mozilla, it is unacceptable to limit opportunity for anyone based on the nature of sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This is not only a commitment, it is our identity. This commitment is a key requirement for all leadership within Mozilla, including for the CEO, and Brendan shares this commitment as the new Chief Executive Officer. Second, I’ll point to Brendan’s comments [1] on this topic. Third, I’ll note that two years ago we had an open conversation and co-creation process about how we make sure our community supports all members, including all forms of gender and sexual orientation. The process, with me as the draftsperson, resulted in the Community Participation Guidelines [2]. These Guidelines mandate that (1) each of us must be inclusive of all community members, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and more, and (2) any exclusionary approach you might practice elsewhere must be left at the door, and not be brought into Mozilla’s spaces. We expect everyone, regardless of role or title, to be committed to the breadth of inclusiveness described in the Guidelines. These Guidelines are in addition to our inclusive and non-discriminatory policies which apply particularly to employees. As a practical, concrete example we’ve also been pushing the boundaries to offer excellent health benefits across the board, to domestic partners and all married couples, same-sex and otherwise. My experience is that Brendan is as committed to opportunity and diversity inside Mozilla as anyone, and more so than many. This commitment to opportunity for all within Mozilla has been a key foundation of our work for many years. I see it in action regularly. The CEO role is obviously a key role, with a large amount of authority. The CEO must have a commitment to the inclusive nature of Mozilla. This includes of course a commitment to the Community Participation Guidelines, inclusive HR practices and the spirit that underlies them. Brendan has made this commitment. Finally, I’ve been asked a few times about my own personal views, and so I’ll add a short comment. I am an avid supporter of equal rights for all. I support equal rights for the LGBT community, I support equal rights for underrepresented groups, and I have some pretty radical views about the role of underrepresented groups in social institutions. I was surprised in 2012 to learn that Brendan and I aren’t in close alignment here, since I’ve never seen any indication of anything other than inclusiveness in our work together. I spend most of my time focused on building an open Internet, which I think is a required infrastructure for empowerment for everyone and where I think I can add something that’s tricky to replace. If I weren’t doing this, I’d probably be spending a good chunk of my life focused more directly on equality issues. [1] https://brendaneich.com/2014/03/inclusiveness-at-mozilla/ https://brendaneich.com/2014/03/inclusiveness-at-mozilla/ [2] http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/participation/ http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/parti...

nnethercote 13y ago

Mitchell and Brendan have always been the heart and soul of Mozilla's leadership. While Brendan's appointment as CEO might result in some changes in where Mozilla directs its efforts, it won't cause changes in the culture; that will remain as open and inclusive as it has always been. Also, everyone who has an opinion on this topic should read what Christie Koehler -- someone who most definitely has skin in this game -- wrote about Brendan's appointment: http://subfictional.com/2014/03/24/on-brendan-eich-as-ceo-of-mozilla/ http://subfictional.com/2014/03/24/on-brendan-eich-as-ceo-of...

natrius 13y ago

I don't think anyone's really worried that Mozilla is going to stop being inclusive. They want to punish Brendan Eich for opposing marriage equality. Saying that Mozilla won't change isn't going to change people's minds. Personally, I don't see much of a gain to be had here. If it were a for-profit company, I'd probably boycott them, not because it helps the cause of marriage equality at all, but because punishing people who are jerks feels good. But it's Mozilla, an organization whose goals I support. I don't care if it's led by a jerk. Punishing him doesn't make the world a better place at all.

victorhooi 13y ago
The below isn't necessarily targeted at the parent post, but just at anybody who's resorting to name-calling, or claiming only their viewpoint is correct. <rant> You claim that "punishing jerks feels good". I'm sorry, but this just comes across as silly internet power-tripping. And who are you to claim somebody is a "jerk". Brendan Eichs has personal beliefs, which I presume you don't agree with. Whoop-de-do. Somebody is on the internet who you don't agree with. Cry me a river. In the olden days, gentleman would simply say, we agree to disagree, and leave it at that. Now, in this age of entitlement, every little boy in his mum's basement just has to get everybody to agree with him, because other peopel ARE WRONG (according to me). You're free to write blog posts saying you disagree with him. Or if you think he's wrong, you can even talk to him directly - in fact, he made a offer that he's happy to speak to anybody in private about it. If anything, he comes across as the bigger person. However, to go around saying, "BRENDAN IS A JERK" - sure, you're "free" to do it - free speech and all, but seriously, it comes across as immature and childish... </rant> However, I agree with the rest of your post - Mozilla does good work. I don't use their browser, but they do a lot for the open-source movement.
- HeyImAlex 13y ago
  These are areas of grey; on one end you probably would say that a white supremacist campaigning for the reinstatement of slavery is kind of a jerk, and on the other you probably wouldn't bat an eye if a guy told you he prefers orange juice to apple. There is no magic in the word "opinion" that gives immunity to criticism. It is then up to us to define where that line lies.

joeframbach 13y ago

Could someone explain why this needed to be said? Is there some controversy that I'm unaware of?

quasque 13y ago
Apparently the new CEO actively opposes same-sex marriage: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7459529 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7459529 EDIT: why the downvotes? This is exactly what lending financial support to the Californian Proposition 8 implies.
bsder 13y ago
Because the Mozilla Foundation board underestimated the amount of flak they were going to get for appointing someone who is anti-LGBT as their CEO. This is inflamed by the fact that Eich has refused to apologize for this. Therefore, everyone is making the, quite justified, assumption that he believes in his anti-LGBT positions quite strongly.
- davidgerard 13y ago
  The amazing thing about this whole kerfuffle is that, apparently, LITERALLY NO-ONE AT MOZILLA realised that this would be THE STORY. They appointed Brendan Eich CEO and LITERALLY DIDN'T ACCOUNT FOR THIS IN ANY WAY. If they had the slightest awareness of their environment, they would have started the softening-up PR months ago, when he started moving toward the CEO role. They could have had everything nicely calm. But no ...

asdfologist 13y ago

One thing in common among many HN comments on this issue is the sentiment that we shouldn't care about a CEO's political views. Perhaps this argument would be somewhat convincing if his actions affected exclusively people outside the company, but keep in mind that he contributed $1000 to a cause that directly removes marriage rights of a large portion of society, some of whom are his very own employees that he's about to lead. For those of you who insist that all this is "just politics", would you say the same if he contributed $1000 to a campaign to bring back slavery? What about a campaign to remove women's voting rights? One thing for sure - the degree of uproar would be drastically higher in those cases, and that's precisely the problem.

merrua 13y ago

It's not really a good sign to pick someone who does not understand equality for the board. I mean, how is that going to turn off contributors. Does he even speak anything other than english?