One week after OkCupid encouraged users to boycott Mozilla Firefox because of its CEO's past support of anti-gay legislation, the popular online dating site's own co-founder is struggling to explain why he himself once supported an anti-gay candidate.
Uncrunched, a blog run by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, reported Tuesday that OKCupid co-founder Sam Yagan contributed $500 to Rep. Chris Cannon's (R-Utah) political campaign in 2004. Cannon has a history of consistently voting to limit gay rights or prohibit them outright, according to Mother Jones.
In an emailed statement to The Huffington Post, Yagan said he was not aware of Cannon's stance on gay rights at the time and that his support for the Congressman stemmed specifically from his positions on Internet and intellectual property rights.
"I accept responsibility for not knowing where he stood on gay rights in particular," Yagan writes. "I unequivocally support marriage equality and I would not make that contribution again today." Here's the statement in its entirety:
"A decade ago, I made a contribution to Representative Chris Cannon because he was the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee that oversaw the Internet and Intellectual Property, matters important to my business and our industry. I accept responsibility for not knowing where he stood on gay rights in particular; I unequivocally support marriage equality and I would not make that contribution again today. However, a contribution made to a candidate with views on hundreds of issues has no equivalence to a contribution supporting Prop 8, a single issue that has no purpose other than to affirmatively prohibit gay marriage, which I believe is a basic civil right."
OkCupid's decision to publish a letter labeling the Mozilla "an opponent of equal rights for gay couples" stemmed from the company's appointment of Brendan Eich as its new CEO in late March. Eich, who last week resigned from the position, once donated $1,000 to California's Proposition 8, a ballot measure that made it illegal for same-sex couples to marry.