OKCupid Co-Founder Apologizes For 2004 Donation To Anti-Gay GOP House Rep

"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 co-founder Sam Yagan, in a statement emailed to the Huffington Post.

OKCupid CEO Once Donated $500 To Anti-Gay GOP Member Of US House

Mother Jones reports that that ten years ago OKCupid CEO Sam Yagen  donated to the campaign of a GOP member of the House who went on to vote for a federal ban on same-sex marriage. The dating website's boycott of Mozilla pushed the flap about former CEO Brendan Eich into the national headlines.

Yagan donated $500 to Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) in 2004, reports Uncrunched. During his time as congressman from 1997 to 2009, Cannon voted for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, against a ban on sexual-orientation based job discrimination, and for prohibition of gay adoptions. He's also voted for numerous anti-choice measures, earning a 0 percent rating from NARAL Pro Choice America. Among other measures, Cannon voted for laws prohibiting government from denying funds to medical facilities that withhold abortion information, stopping minors from crossing state lines to obtain an abortion, and banning family planning funding in US aid abroad. Cannon also earned a 7 percent rating from the ACLU for his poor civil rights voting record: He voted to amend FISA to allow warrant-less electronic surveillance, to allow NSA intelligence gathering without civil oversight, and to reauthorize the PATRIOT act.

The above-linked Mother Jones report concludes that OKCupid's boycott of Mozilla may been been more of a PR stunt than "an act of impassioned protest."