Brendan Eich helped found Mozilla.org in early 1998.Brendan Eich helped found Mozilla.org in early 1998.

Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich is stepping down as chief executive following protests over his support of a gay marriage ban in California.

The Mountain View, California-based non-profit maker of the Firefox browser, infuriated many employees and users last week by promoting Eich.

At issue was his $1,000 donation in 2008 to the campaign to pass California’s Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that outlawed same-sex marriages.

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

The contribution had drawn some negative attention in the past but took on more weight when he was named chief executive, and Mozilla employees and users criticised the move online.

Dating website OKCupid replaced its usual homepage for users logging in with Firefox, the world’s third-most-popular web browser, with a note suggesting they should not use Mozilla’s software to access the site.

Mozilla is still discussing what is next for its leadership.

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