Mozilla CEO forced to resign over personal belief

The chief executive of US software developer Mozilla, Brendan Eich, has resigned over his support of a gay marriage ban in California just ten days after taking the job.

The company was criticized for appointing Eich as CEO last month.

The resignation came because Eich gave $1,000 donation in 2008 to oppose the legalization of gay marriage in California.

Last year, the ban was overturned when the US Supreme Court left in place a lower-court ruling striking down the ballot measure.

Mozilla chairwoman Mitchell Baker apologized for the company’s actions on Thursday.

“We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better,” she said.

Meanwhile, Eich said in a statement on Thursday that “under the present circumstances, I cannot be an effective leader.”

Eich defended his views in an interview on Tuesday, saying that he was capable of separating his personal beliefs from those of the business he is running.

When asked if he might resign, he said he would leave it up to the board to decide.

“I serve at the pleasure of the board. I would have them ask me to step down,” he said. “Until then I have to be CEO 100 percent.”

Many experts blasted the departure of Eich, who created the programming language Javascript and co-founded Mozilla.