(Shamelessly stolen from elsewhere.)
Essentially, it's really hard to lead people who don't respect you.
We can all have a civil disagreement about whether vi or emacs is superior, or if Political Party X is better than Y. But when you specifically attack the fundamental rights of your employees and their friends / family, then refuse to apologise for it, you're simply not going to be a credible leader.
Here's the other thing - in capitalism, you have to listen to your customers. If the "Moral Majority" wants to boycott your shop/browser/TV show because your CEO isn't sufficiently deferential to their god - they can go for it.
If the business wants to succeed, it has decide whether it will be more profitable to capitulate or not.
In Mozilla's case, they have (belatedly) seen the way the world is turning. Good for them.