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Comment by ps4fanboy | Hacker News Reader

I believe in gay marriage but I also believe in peoples right to oppose it, this whole thing is shameful.

I don't think that at any point Eich did not have the right to hold his opinion, just as people and companies have the right to choose not to associate with those who hold those views. Mozilla, and those (internal and external to Mozilla) who are calling for his resignation are not the government are not opressing him in any way.

Whether or not this is the right call for Mozilla is up for debate, but whether his rights were infringed certainly is not.

"people and companies have the right to choose not to associate with those who hold those views" If his beliefs are religiously motivated, actually companies do not have the right to discriminate based on that. And imagine a modified version of that statement used to justify forcing out a gay CEO: "people and companies have the right to choose not to associate with people who believe in and act upon homosexual beliefs"

Fair agument, I did not think that through. Mozilla is, of course, required to comply with any and all anti-discriminiation laws which apply.

However, would I be correct in saying that his rights are not being infringed by having people (both internal and external to Mozilla) call for his resignation because of his beliefs, and his contributions to causes which are actively damaging to some of those in the community? Especially in the case of Mozilla, who rely heavily on volunteers, the opinions of those connected but not necessarily employed by Mozilla should be important.

Clearly Eich did not have an actual right to hold his opinion, because he lost his job because of it!

You can campaign for change without the need to destroy those who disagree with you, on the face of it appears to be contradictory to what you are trying to achieve.

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