Brendan Eich's short tenure as CEO of Mozilla has come to a close. Less than two weeks after taking the top post at the browser maker, Eich has stepped down in the wake of a controversy surrounding his support of the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8.
In a blog post, Mozilla executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker said the company has not "stayed true to ourselves."
"We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public," she said. "This is meant to distinguish Mozilla from most organizations and hold us to a higher standard. But this time we failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community."
Baker said Eich decided to step down as CEO "for Mozilla and our community." The company has not made any decisions about who will step in as CEO, but Baker promised an open process and more details next week.
"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," she concluded.
At issue is a $1,000 donation that Eich made in 2008 in support of California's Prop. 8, which sought to ban gay marriage. The issue cropped up again in recent weeks after Eich, a Mozilla co-founder, landed the top job at the browser maker.
In a recent blog post, Eich committed to "equality in everything we do, from employment to events to community-building." But he declined to discuss his position on gay marriage.
Earlier this week, dating site OkCupid.com added a landing page for Firefox users that encouraged them to use competing browsers as long as Eich was in charge, which it only just removed. Other Mozilla developers and employees also expressed disappointment that the company had selected Eich as CEO.