After nearly a year of searching,(really?  one year?)  the Mozilla Foundation announced the hiring of longtime CTO Brendan Eich as its new CEO. The internal hire looks like Mozilla opted for a technological leader to head up the front office as opposed to a business school expert.

But much of the public reaction to his promotion skipped past that “can a coder run a company” question, focusing squarely on another financial issue. In 2008, Eich donated $1,000 in support of California’s Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that sought to ban gay marriage in the state. So shortly after the announcement of Eich’s hiring, the reaction came swiftly. In particular, developers came forward with a mix of boycotts and reluctant acceptance.

App developer Rarebit ignited the conversation by announcing that it pulled its apps from the Firefox Marketplace. In a statement, Rarebit CEO Hampton Catlin recalled the story of his own gay marriage experience in California, which allowed him to marry Rarebit co-founder Michael Catlin. Catlin called Eich out for both his Prop 8 donation and his choice not to apologize.

“We morally cannot support a foundation that would not only leave someone with hateful views in power but will give them a promotion and put them in charge of the entire organization,” he wrote.

Mozilla Education Lead Christie Koehler offered an internal perspective. She repeatedly expressed disappointment with the news of Eich’s Prop 8 donation but also insisted that she saw no reason for Mozilla’s principles of “openness, innovation, and opportunity” to change because of Eich’s new role. After expressing empathy for Mozilla’s search for the right internal hire, she praised the company’s LGBT-friendly benefits packages, its internal guidelines for participation, and its board of directors. Koehler asked anybody who shared her mixed sentiments to join her efforts in cementing Mozilla’s policies toward openness and inclusion.   SEE MORE HERE.

Firefox of course released a statement demonstrating their diversity.

But in this age of transparency companies should be looking for skeletons in everyones closet.

Some may argue, it was only $1000. What if he donated $1000  to the KKK? Are gay haters any less?