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sltkrlast Wednesday at 6:24 PM2 repliesview on HN

That's just factually wrong. Proposition 8 deprived nobody of any rights. Gay couples could get exactly the same rights as straight couples through a domestic partnership, or get married out of state, as even Wikipedia admits:

> A same-sex marriage lawfully performed in another state or foreign jurisdiction on or after November 5, 2008 was fully recognized in California, but Proposition 8 precluded California from designating these relationships with the word "marriage." These couples were afforded every single one of the legal rights, benefits, and obligations of marriage.

Note the last sentence!

Additionally, proposition 8 was not extreme. It was carried by a majority of California voters, and Barack Obama said at the time: “I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman” which is essentially what the proposition established too, though Obama opposed using a ballot proposition to settle the issue.

> He has a right to do that without fear of government retaliation. But Mozilla has a right to fire him for being a bad person because of it.

I never argued that Mozilla doesn't have the right to fire people for their political views. We're just establishing that Eich _was_ fired for his political views, and that that shows Mozilla had become a political organization first, and a technological company second.

In a politically neutral technology company there should be room for people who side with Barack Obama and the majority of Californian voters. The fact that that is not true of Mozilla proves it's not a politically neutral company; it's a political project that inherited a software project they are not particularly interested in maintaining except as a vehicle for further promoting their politics.


Replies

pseudalopexlast Wednesday at 11:00 PM

> That's just factually wrong. Proposition 8 deprived nobody of any rights. Gay couples could get exactly the same rights as straight couples through a domestic partnership, or get married out of state, as even Wikipedia admits:

The US rejected separate but equal since decades.

California domestic partnerships provided most of the same rights as marriage. Not all. The California legislature had to pass bills after to address this.[1]

The bill which afforded same sex couples married out of state the same rights as heterosexual couples married in state passed over 11 months after Proposition 8 took effect. The citation of the last sentence revealed this. You did not read it?

Heterosexual couples were not required to marry out of state.

> Additionally, proposition 8 was not extreme. It was carried by a majority of California voters

Most jobs have requirements which most California voters would not meet.

> Barack Obama said at the time: “I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman” which is essentially what the proposition established too, though Obama opposed using a ballot proposition to settle the issue.

Obama opposed stripping rights by vote is a significant difference.

And Obama changed his public position by 2014. Eich was unable to say he would not repeat his harmful action.

And many people suspected Obama's opposition to same sex marriage was a lie in 2008 even. 1 of his advisers claimed this later.

> Eich _was_ fired for his political views

Eich said he resigned because he could not be an effective leader under the circumstances.[2] Did he lie?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_partnership_in_Califo...

[2] https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/mozilla-ceo-eich-res...

lern_too_spellast Wednesday at 10:41 PM

> Barack Obama said at the time: “I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman”

And yet he didn't force the country to only recognize marriages between men and women. Instead, he did the opposite. He voted against DOMA in 1996. He repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell in 2010. He appointed judges who looked favorably on gay marriage and then told the justice department not to defend DOMA against constitutional attacks. Then he celebrated the Supreme Court's ruling against DOMA.

> In a politically neutral technology company there should be room for people who side with Barack Obama and the majority of Californian voters.

Barack Obama and California voters (64% of likely voters in 2013 according to PPIC) were on the other side in 2014 when Eich was appointed CEO. Eich remained (and remains to this day) on the wrong side.