OkCupid seeks to block Mozilla over anti-gay CEO

Dating website OkCupid has responded to Mozilla’s appointment of anti-gay CEO Brendan Eich by asking its users not to use Firefox when accessing their service.

Eich’s recent appointment has been met with controversy after it was revealed that he donated $1,000 (approximately £600) to a campaign hoping to outlaw same-sex marriage in California.

OkCupid replaced their homepage with the following message for Firefox users: “Hello there, Mozilla Firefox user. Pardon this interruption of your OkCupid experience.

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

At the end of the message, the website gave users the option to continue using Firefox should they wish to, but also offered alternative web browsers such as Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.

OkCupid President Christian Rudder noted that 8% of the dating site’s users are gay and lesbian, while 3 billion monthly page views come from Firefox.

Mozilla released a statement to The AP following the move, saying: “No matter who you are or who you love, everyone deserves the same rights and to be treated equally. OkCupid never reached out to us to let us know of their intentions, nor to confirm facts.”

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