See the Surprising Message Regarding Same-Sex Couples and Mozilla Firefox That Greeted Visitors to a Popular Dating Site

Popular dating site OkCupid is urging its users to boycott Mozilla, a software collective, over its new CEO's past support for traditional marriage.

Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Mozilla -- and the inventor of Javascript programming language -- is under fire for a $1,000 donation he made in support of California's Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot proposition defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, NPR reported.

While Eich's donation made headlines and then fizzled back in 2012, his recent CEO appointment brought it back to the forefront, creating debate among Mozilla employees. Here are just a few of the tweets that were sent by staffers after Eich, who previously served as the Mozilla's CTO, was promoted:

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/chmcavoy/statuses/449230710901985280"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/iamjessklein/statuses/449233331352514560"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/bevangelist/statuses/449232803902025728"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/emgollie/statuses/449231010824081408"]

That debate, though, has now extended well beyond the company's walls, with OkCupid, an outside entity, blocking direct access to its dating portal to any user coming through Firefox, Mozilla's free web browser.

Upon reaching the site, Firefox users are greeted with a letter that takes aim at Eich's stance on same-sex marriage and urges Firefox users to seek another browser.

"Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples," the letter reads. "We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid."

OkCupid goes on to say that, though politics aren't normally "the business of a website," it believes in the importance of bringing people together, regardless of sexuality.

"If individuals like Mr. Eich had their way, then roughly 8% of the relationships we’ve worked so hard to bring about would be illegal," it reads. "Equality for gay relationships is personally important to many of us here at OkCupid. But it’s professionally important to the entire company."

Holding little back, the dating site continued, "Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame, and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure."

While OkCupid encourages visitors to find another browser, the company does provide a link for those interested in still using Firefox to navigate the site.

A screen shot from the letter posted by OkCupid

Amid ongoing debate, Eich has attempted to temper the storm. He published a statement on March 26 highlighting Mozilla's devotion to diversity -- and touching upon own stance on homosexuality.

"I am deeply honored and humbled by the CEO role. I’m also grateful for the messages of support. At the same time, I know there are concerns about my commitment to fostering equality and welcome for LGBT individuals at Mozilla," he wrote. "I hope to lay those concerns to rest, first by making a set of commitments to you. More important, I want to lay them to rest by actions and results."

Eich went on to pledge support for diversity and expressed his sorrow for "having caused pain," though he did not specifically reference the donation that sparked the debate.

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Featured image via Mozilla.org