Following months of hopeful speculation, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and thus, one of the most important men in the world, has publicly come out as a gay man. Cook acknowledged his orientation publicly in an exceptionally powerful essay for Businessweek in which he writes:
While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.
Cook, 53, says that he was already out privately and many of his Apple colleagues were also aware that he is a gay man.
Although he writes that he doesn’t consider himself an activist, Cook has been a longtime supporter of LGBT rights and was opposed to California’s discriminatory Proposition 8. Earlier this week, Cook visited his home state of Alabama and publicly chided Gov. Robert Bentley for his appalling stance on marriage equality.
Cook writes that his decision to come out to the world wasn’t an easy one, saying:
Privacy remains important to me, and I’d like to hold on to a small amount of it. I’ve made Apple my life’s work, and I will continue to spend virtually all of my waking time focused on being the best CEO I can be. That’s what our employees deserve—and our customers, developers, shareholders, and supplier partners deserve it, too. Part of social progress is understanding that a person is not defined only by one’s sexuality, race, or gender. I’m an engineer, an uncle, a nature lover, a fitness nut, a son of the South, a sports fanatic, and many other things. I hope that people will respect my desire to focus on the things I’m best suited for and the work that brings me joy.
Words of support from Cook’s peers and friends came quickly, including this tweet from Richard Branson:
Inspirational words from Apple CEO Tim Cook on being gay, and standing up for equality http://t.co/5UXOc6vGY9
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) October 30, 2014
Watch Businessweek editor Josh Tyrangiel discuss being approached by Cook to tell his story and what prompted him to come forward at this point in time.
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I'm Black, and HIV-Positive.
Well how exactly does such a high profile man go about a dating life, assuming companionship, or even just a personal sex life is important to him? He was only out to family, and close personal friends & colleagues? No seriously, he’s been dating a man on the low, or something for awhile then though right? “After months of hopeful speculation”, the column writes? I mean, how did “people” suspect him of being gay in the first place? Just because he chided Robert Bentley? Well anyway, who cares? 53, piercing bright blue-eyes, and rich as all Hell? I don’t know who this man is, but I’m already in love with him. Call me Tim!
Sweet Boy
And now the gays will rush to buy iPhones, iPads, iWatches, iDildos, iButtplugs and so forth to show solidarity
IvanPH
I guess members of One Million Moms and NOM members will have to ditch their Apple gadgets now.
pjm1
Queerty, you called for this in an editorial awhile ago. I did
not think Cook would come out so publicly (though he has been
sorta out for some time).
Anyway, good for you all and Tim Cook! With Apple’s recent earnings
where they are (the stratosphere), Cook is a humble pie force of nature.
Paco
Almost every gay person I know has at least one iDevice from Apple, including me.
Thanks for publicly coming out Mr. Cook.
NateOcean
Does this mean that all the Apple fan-boys will now have to become gay, too?
jason smeds
Tim Cook has less in common with most gay men than right-wing pastors. He is very rich for starters. Most gay men will never have as much money as Tim Cook. He’s one of these privileged gays in a privileged position that most gay men can never aspire to.
Tim Cook should have re-phrased his statement to “I’m proud to be rich”.
MarionPaige
Bummer, I bet The Gays thought they would get a lot more mileage out of this one, like say when they spent decades dragging Geffen out of the closet.
As with The Whole TR KNIGHT bullshit really being about trying to keep Shandra Rhimes down, you have to wonder who was really BEHIND all thus shit about Cook being Gay? I mean, the guy is already head of Apple, could there actually be an effort to smear him?
vive
Maybe now he can scrap Apple’s ridiculous censorship policies, which basically require all apps that display images to be safe for 10 year olds and Saudi Arabians.
But maybe his being gay is why he thinks he has to be more virtuous than thou.
Tookietookie123
@jason smeds: I don’t see how coming out has anything to do with the amount of money he has. Stop being so bitter…
Kevin B
@jason smeds: First of all, it’s not like the guy comes from money; he worked hard to achieve a really valuable skill set. You can argue a bit about whether or not we overcompensate CEOs or whatever but at some point people with rare, marketable skills like his SHOULD be able to cash in on them. Like, he runs a company with over $180 billion in revenue, he should expect some pretty considerable compensation.
At the end of the day, SOMEONE is going to be rich, so they may as well be competent, self-fulfilled, on our side, and have earned their spot.
omacdonald
Gurl this is not news. Who did not know this?
vive
@Kevin B, well, another predatory capitalist who is now lauded because he is gay and a predatory capitalist. As if that excused Apple’s questionable and frankly immoral business policies, tax evasion, and human and worker rights violations in their employment policies (see, e.g., suicide rates in their Asian sweatshops).
As far as I am concerned, the straights could have kept him.
avesraggiana
Being handpicked by Steve Jobs to be his successor reflects very well on Steve Jobs. To have included Tim Cook in his inner sanctum of business associates and friends tells me that for all his egomaniacal and narcissistic tendencies, Steve jobs among other fine qualities, was liberal minded towards “the gays” in a way that no other CEOs of his generation dared to be.
Congratulations to Tim Cook for making it official.
vive
@avesraggiana, regarding Steve Jobs, you seem extraordinarily grateful for the crumbs off a straight man’s table. Of a meal that belonged to us in the first place.
RIGay
And the Apple iPhone loving right-wing, anti-gay wing-nuts just hit tilt. Gotta love it!
avesraggiana
@vive: Yep. No matter its source or no matter the gift, gratefulness is not such a bad place to be. We just don’t always get there right away.
MarionPaige
Not sure that being “hand picked” by Steve Jobs is a good endorsement – as in wasn’t it a given that Jobs was forced out of Apple when he was because most of his own people hated him? And, I don’ think the “record” is closed entirely on Jobs NOT BEING GAY himself. I personally never saw Jobs eating any pussy.
Given all that has come out about Steve Jobs, how many hot shot executives with options would have put up with him? Apple, a company that gave the appearance of being a counter-culture enterprise of young out of the box thinkers ended up being a money hording / jobs exporting anal enterprise that makes IBM look liberal. And, let’s not forget that Apple exists today because Bill Gates propped it up (so that Microsoft could say in its anti-trust defense that there was a viable alternative to windows).
According to corporate legend, what “endeared” Cook to Jobs was Cook being the designer / inventor of Apple’s manufacturing / supply chain method of operation. And, it is no secret that Apple’s manufacturing / supply chain is all about exporting jobs out of the country for cheaper labor. Apple has money stashed all over the globe with the intent of not having to pay US taxes on that money. It’s like Steve Jobs was that bitch in Gone With The Wind who pulled up a carrot out of the ground and vowed never to go hungry again – by hording cash.
vive
@MarionPaige: “According to corporate legend, what “endeared” Cook to Jobs was Cook being the designer / inventor of Apple’s manufacturing / supply chain method of operation. And, it is no secret that Apple’s manufacturing / supply chain is all about exporting jobs out of the country for cheaper labor. Apple has money stashed all over the globe with the intent of not having to pay US taxes on that money.”
You pretty much hit the nail on the head. I also wonder why we are now supposed to be happy another sociopath is gay.