OkCupid Wants Users to Reject Web Browser Over Gay Marriage

Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

By Chuck Ross.

The online dating site OkCupid is blocking users of a popular web browser because the company’s new CEO once made a contribution to a ballot initiative against gay marriage.

“Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples,” reads the message which immediately greets visitors using Firefox, the web’s second most popular browser. “We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid.”

Eich’s appointment as CEO generated outrage when it was announced last week.

In 2008, Eich donated $1,000 in support of California’s Prop 8, a ballot initiative defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Several members of Mozilla’s board resigned after Eich’s appointment, though it was reported that the exodus may have been unrelated to his stance on gay marriage.

Eich’s backing of the gay marriage ban also caused controversy in 2012 when it first came to light.

Read more from this story HERE.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: CNN

Photo Credit: CNN

OkCupid protests Firefox over CEO’s anti-same-sex marriage donation

By Heather Kelly.

Dating site OkCupid is calling for its members to ditch Firefox and use another browser to search for love. The company is protesting Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, who supported an anti-same-sex marriage campaign. Firefox is owned by Mozilla.

When OkCupid members navigate to the site on a Firefox browser, they are met with a message encouraging them to use an alternative browser to access the site, including Google Chrome, Opera, Safari and the amusingly misspelled Internet Exploder.

“Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure,” reads the message.

The page points out that 8% of the matches made on OkCupid are between same-sex couples.

Last week, Mozilla promoted Eich, a longtime employee who was previously the company’s chief technology officer, to the position of CEO. The move prompted renewed outrage by third-party developers and employees. Eich donated $1,000 to support Propostion 8 in 2008. The California ballot initiative sought to ban same-sex marriage in the state. The donation was made public in 2012 but Eich held onto his job.

Read more from this story HERE.