Brendan Eich has stepped down from his role as CEO of Mozilla, following a controversy over his apparent opposition to gay marriage. The resignation was announced by Mitchell Baker, executive chairwoman of the Mozilla Foundation.

Mitchell Baker (Executive chairwoman, Mozilla): Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.

Mr. Eich, also the creator of JavaScript, was co-founder and CTO of Mozilla, before he was appointed as CEO two weeks ago. The appointment came under criticism when it was revealed that Mr. Eich had made a $1,000 donation in support of Proposition 8, opposing same-sex marriage, in 2011. Mr. Eich had also made contributions to fringe Republican candidates such as Pat Buchanan.