Friday, April 4, 2014
Via JMG: Mozilla: Eich Jumped, Wasn't Pushed
Mozilla's Firefox account on Twitter has 2.4M followers and they have responded to many complaints today.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Labels: boycotts, Brendan Eich, Firefox, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Mozilla, Proposition 8, technology
JMG Quote Of The Day - J.C. Von Krempach
RELATED: Another member of C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute) is Breitbart columnist Austin Ruse, who last month was fired by the American Family Association's radio network after broadcasting a call for liberal college professors to be "taken out and shot." During a speech at CPAC 2012, Ruse denounced the United Nations for issuing a resolution against the gay death penalty.
Labels: Brendan Eich, C-FAM, Catholics, Christianists, hate groups, LGBT rights, Mozilla, religion, technology
Via JMG: Activist Groups React To Mozilla News
Courage Campaign
“Across the country, the LGBT community and progressive activists are heartened by Mozilla’s decisive action to remove Mr. Eich as the CEO of their for-profit and nonprofit ventures. It is a testament to the power of online grassroots organizing. The decision to hold its CEO to the same high standards of inclusion and equality that the company advocates, Mozilla once again reaffirmed its credibility as a thoroughly progressive institution. Let this be a clear message to those at other progressive institutions around the country -- homophobia and bigotry are not progressive values, and will not be tolerated.”CREDO
“We applaud Mozilla’s announcement and its strong stand for equal rights,” said Becky Bond, CREDO’s Political Director. “Mozilla is not just company, it’s a movement supported by tens of thousands of volunteers around the world. Mozilla is a non-profit organization fighting to keep the web open and free for all of us. They put people above profit, and fight for user choice and privacy. Mozilla’s mission is vitally important to every grassroots movement, including the work that we do here at CREDO.”
NOTE: There have been few public reactions to Mozilla story by LGBT groups, who seem have largely left the issue to grassroots activists. GLAAD has issued a one sentence statement: "Mozilla’s strong statement in favor of equality today reflects where corporate America is: inclusive, safe, and welcoming to all."
Via JMG: and...Right On Cue
Labels: Brendan Eich, Bryan Fischer, Christianists, douchebaggery, hate groups, hypocrisy, Linda Harvey, Mozilla, Peter LaBarbera, religion, Tammy Bruce, technology
Via Daily Dharma
Refraining is not Enough
| April 4, 2014
Whenever we find fault with others,
whether through anger, contemptuous certainty, self-righteousness, or
gossip, it is often based in fear. We may not be aware of our fears, but
when we look deeply, we may discover the fear of rejection, loss of
control, of unworthiness, or the fear of disconnection. But refraining
alone is not enough—by itself it is just behavior modification—and it is
neither healing nor transformative. Only through uncovering and
consciously entering into the deep hole inside, welcoming the fear with
curiosity and compassion, can we ultimately reconnect with the basic
wholeness of our true nature.
—Ezra Bayda, “Gossip”
Via JMG: Signorile Vs Sullivan
Yesterday Andrew Sullivan denounced
the campaign against now-former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, declaring
that if the Eich controversy represents the gay rights movement today,
he no longer wants any part of it. Michelangelo Signorile responded
to Sullivan this morning in a post which contends that it wasn't Eich's
donation to the Prop 8 campaign that did him in. An excerpt:
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Eich only announced he was stepping down after it was revealed late Wednesday that he'd given money to Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign in 1992, and later to Ron Paul's campaign. Suddenly, in addition to defending a CEO who gave money to homophobic efforts, Mozilla would have to defend a CEO who supported Buchanan, a far right extremist and isolationist who's been accused of racist and anti-Semitic attacks, and who also was, rightly, driven off MSNBC -- though that took years longer to accomplish than the few weeks it took to purge Alec Baldwin.Hit the link and read Signorile's full response.
It all just became too much for Mozilla to bear, and who knows what else may have been dug up on Eich? None of this is about government censorship. It's about a company based in Northern California which has many progressive employees, and which has a lot of progressives and young people among the user base of its Firefox browser, realizing its CEO's world view was completely out of touch with the company's --and America's -- values and vision for the future.
Labels: activism, Andrew Sullivan, Brendan Eich, LGBT rights, Michelangelo Signorile, Mozilla, Pat Buchanan, Proposition 8
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Via George Takei / FB:
Well, that was fast. OkCupid's
strong stance surely helped. And staffers at Mozilla who'd protested,
and company directors who'd resigned as a result of his appointment, can
now work in a hate-free zone.
And a quick civics primer: Freedom
of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. This man donated
money to a campaign designed to keep LGBT people from full equality and
to deny our families equal rights under the law. He was free to make
that choice, but we are free to hold him accountable. If he'd donated
money to White Supremacists to help outlaw interracial marriage, there'd
be little outcry over his ouster.
Mozilla
co-founder CEO Brendan Eich, who came under fire this week for donating
to a campaign to ban gay marriage in California, has resigned.
By ABC News
Via JMG: Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich Steps Down
Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves. We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better. Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this decision for Mozilla and our community. Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.Baker concludes:
What’s next for Mozilla’s leadership is still being discussed. We want to be open about where we are in deciding the future of the organization and will have more information next week. However, our mission will always be to make the Web more open so that humanity is stronger, more inclusive and more just: that’s what it means to protect the open Web. We will emerge from this with a renewed understanding and humility — our large, global, and diverse community is what makes Mozilla special, and what will help us fulfill our mission. We are stronger with you involved. Thank you for sticking with us.Today's move comes ten days after Eich was named Mozilla's CEO. LGBT groups, gay Mozilla staffers, and gay developers immediately called for a boycott of Mozilla over Eich's apparently unrepentant donation to the Proposition 8 campaign in 2008. But when Eich issued a statement expressing solidarity for the LGBT community (albeit without publicly reversing on marriage equality or apologizing for the donation), calls for his resignation and boycotts of Mozilla spread into the anti-gay, Christian, and Tea Party worlds, creating a bizarre and unprecedented situation in which groups that are regularly tearing into each others' throats were suddenly and unwillingly thrust onto the same side. Almost everybody (noted exception: Brian Brown) wanted Eich gone - but for very different reasons.
Today's move will surely satisfy many LGBT activists. But don't think for a minute that this story is over, because the screams of "homofascism" that we regularly hear are now going to grow much louder and the Eich saga will surely echo into future battles. Some of us may even come to view today as having been a Pyrrhic victory as Eich will doubtlessly be canonized by our enemies and his name will become a rallying cry.
As least we'll have the short term amusement of watching hate group leaders who last week called for Eich's head turn swiftly on their heels to scream about the intolerant gaystapo.
Labels: Brendan Eich, California, Firefox, internet, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Mozilla, Proposition 8, technology
The Bahá'í Faith and Homosexuality
Bahá'í LGBTs on the Internet,
agitating for full acceptance
The agenda being pursued by Baha'i LGBTs is simple: full equality for persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including same-sex marriage. Some are using the Internet to publicize their goals.
In reading some of their sites, one is struck by the level of anxiety and fear experienced by LGBTs in this faith. That is a real pity, because the Baha'i faith should liberate people from fear and make their lives whole, not trap them in a closet and make them pretend to be what they are not.
How to be Mindful
| April 3, 2014
Since the sense of self is the
embodiment of the absence of awareness, forgetting to observe is
inevitable as we try harder to be aware. The problem of how to be
mindful is actually resolved not through strenuous effort but by
relaxing, allowing, and observing what is already here. Within the
framework of relaxation, the sense of self has a diminishing power
center, making space for awareness to be revealed.
—Rodney Smith, “From Thought to Stillness”
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Via Towleroad: Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich Also Contributed To Anti-Gay GOP Candidates
The Guardian has just revealed that in addition to donating $1,000 to help ban gay marriage in California, new Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich also contributed $1000 during the early 1990s to anti-gay right-wing Republican presidential candidate and $2000 in the late 90s to Texas state Republican congressman Ron Paul, a man who preferred to leave gay marriage up to individual states.
The Guardian notes:
During the AIDS outbreak of 1990,
Buchanan said “our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally hell-bent on
Satanism and suicide”. A few years earlier he said “homosexuals have
declared war on nature, and now nature is exacting an awful
retribution”.
In a 2010 article on [gay marriage],
Buchanan remarked that "all the great religions have condemned
homosexuality and all the great nations have proscribed or punished it"
and concluded: "Historically, from the late Roman Empire to Weimar,
flagrant homosexuality has been associated with sick societies, decadent
cultures and dying civilizations.”
Ever since news of Eich’s anti-gay California contribution has become public, there have been calls for a Mozilla boycott from both pro and anti-gay groups, calls for Eich to step down from Mozilla employees, several resignations of Mozilla board members, even as Eich continues to sidestep questions on his current stance towards same-sex marriage.
http://www.towleroad.com/2014/04/mozilla-ceo-brendan-eich-also-contributed-to-anti-gay-gop-candidates.html
Via JMG: Mozilla CEO Speaks To CNET
I don't know. If it is, the vision of Mozilla will be lost. I don't think anyone else will carry the user-first agenda above all other considerations. I understand big commercial corporations can't do it. They have to ultimately answer to their shareholders. They can have founders with large shares and that can say they're willing to take a hit in order to be long-term thinkers, and I admire that, but in no way can they do what Mozilla does. We bled for the user. We did Firefox when nobody thought the browser was a competitive market or ever would be again. We did Firefox OS when people said there was no need for a mobile OS but there was obviously a gap below the market. And we're doing a user-centric approach to services that involve identity and choice and control of data. Mozilla has to uphold its principles, has to have integrity to advance its mission.Eich also mentioned that the company is planning to take actions to emphasize its support for the LGBT community, but he gave no specifics.
I feel strongly about what's happened, and I feel I'm still the best CEO for the job. I've got lots to contribute and I'll help us turn some corners. The corners that need me as CEO, not just founder or CTO, are a big mobile turn that involves services [and] user identity and agency in the cloud. If we get our message out about inclusiveness and how Mozilla cannot succeed without being truly globally inclusive, then we'll have trouble. I expect I'll be helpful there, too, in the long run. We're in a struggle now, but if we get through it, we'll be stronger for it. That's been true of all our struggles at Mozilla. When we pull everybody together for common mission, that's when we really succeed.
Labels: 2008 elections, Brendan Eich, California, Firefox, internet, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Mozilla, Proposition 8, technology
Via Daily Dharma
What the Buddha Never Said | April 2, 2014
'There is no self' is the granddaddy of
fake Buddhist quotes. It has survived so long because of its
superficial resemblance to the teaching on anatta, or not-self,
which was one of the Buddha’s tools for putting an end to clinging. Even
though he neither affirmed nor denied the existence of a self, he did
talk of the process by which the mind creates many senses of self—what
he called “I-making” and “my-making”—as it pursues its desires.
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “There is no self.”
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Some Space | April 1, 2014
If we can allow some space within our
awareness and rest there, we can respect our troubling thoughts and
emotions, allow them to come, and let them go. Our lives may be
complicated on the outside, but we remain simple, easy, and open on the
inside.
—Tsoknyi Rinpoche, "Allow for Space"
Monday, March 31, 2014
Via JMG: First & Last Lines From Noted Gay Novels
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