After a prolonged bout with pancreatic cancer, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs passed away today. The 56-year-old computing visionary sought to make personal computing accessible to everyone through sleek, intuitive, user-friendly design, but his company, his products, and legacy also struck a particular note with the gay crowd as well. Let’s take a moment to recount five ways Jobs struck a positive chord with the gay community during his lifetime.
1) The Apple Logo – Rob Janoff originally created the iconic rainbow-colored logo in 1977. And though the company dropped the rainbow coloring in 1998, what more alluring symbol could there be than a the visible light spectrum placed onto a bitten apple—reminiscent of forbidden knowledge and irresistible temptation.
2) LGBT-friendly hiring practices – Apple was an early adopter of LGBT-friendly hiring practices and scored a perfect 100 in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for offering their employees LGBT-protections, domestic partner benefits, and diversity training—also setting a strong example for other large corporations.
3) Stylish design adapted by homos – According to a 2011 LGBT community survey, gay men are 1.4 times more likely to own an iPhone compared to the general population. The sleek, sexy, design and packaging of Apple products combined with their popularity among artists and designers helped boost their use amongst gay creatives as well.
4) Philanthropy for LGBT causes – Not only does Apple have no history of donating to anti-gay causes, they also famously donated $100,000 to help beat Proposition 8.
5) Appointing Tim Cook as CEO – A month and a half before his passing, Steve Jobs personally appointed Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook as the new company head. As Cook steers the stock market’s #1 company into the 21st century, he does so as the most powerful gay businessperson in the world.
ChrisC
RIP Steve, you will be missed.
egoiste
Well, there was that iTunes and Christian Values Network debacle.
Steve
What about gay Iphone apps being turned off because they were becoming too “adult”. These apps were not like hook up sites but more for navigation through gay communities in cities. Or not allowing certain gay books to be downloaded because again they were too sexual in nature. Or developers like Ginder, Manhunt and so forth having to worry that, god forbid, an xrated image shows up, Apple could turn the app off?
Jeff
RIP. Your vision and legacy will live on in our ears, on our desks and in our hands.
Michael Bedwell
1. Apple made over $1 BILLION profit that QUARTER, so the $100K didn’t even amount to pocket lint. Jobs himself did not give ONE CENT of his fortune to fight Prop 8, while, by contrast, both Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg each PERSONALLY gave the same amount, and Steve Bing gave $500,000.
2. His handpicked successor MAY be gay but there is apparently no documentation of his ever having confirmed that publicly even though he lives in the most gay-friendly part of the country AND for such a gay-friendly company. Further, he didn’t give one cent of HIS multimillion dollar fortune to fight 8 either.
3. In any case the REAL giant, the real HERO who died today was civil rights legend, Rev. Fred Shuttleworth.
http://www.usatoday.com/ne?ws/nation/story/2011-10-05?/fred-shuttlesworth-dies/5?0667896/1?csp=34news
knowbetter
OMG… there are always haters aren’t there. It’s sad to see what the world has become with people not even taking a moment to appreciate the legacy of one human being. It’s sad to see how some people can never be happy.
j
@Michael Bedwell: Yeah, well if you’ve ever been discriminated against at work you can appreciate how much apple have gone out of their way to provide a safe environment for LGBT workers, not for profit but because it was the RIGHT THING TO DO! The world’s lost a true innovator and the inspiration for an entire generation of people who want to better themselves.
fredo777
@Michael Bedwell: Didn’t miss a beat, eh? Classy.
Robert in NYC
My condolences to his family. If only Apple made all of its products in the U.S. instead of China. I wouldn’t mind paying more for its products as long as they were made right here in the U.S. ,creating thousands of jobs so desperately needed.
Robert in NYC
My condolences to his family. If only Apple made all of its products in the U.S. instead of China. I wouldn’t mind paying more for its products as long as they were made right here in the U.S. creating thousands of jobs so desperately needed.
Meowzer
As I sit here writing this on my Mac, I can’t help but feel saddened by Steve Jobs passing. He basically helped me advance my career from drawing graphics to creating wonderful possibilities via Mac computers.
With any company (or person) their good deeds are tempered with errors. Why dwell on the ways he’s “wronged” the LGBT community and embrace what he’s helped us.
I feel sorry for the bitter queens who can only find fault that he didn’t do as opposed to what he did do.
In any case, thank you Steve Jobs. If for nothing else, my career.
Mav
@Steve: Hook-up sites/apps like Grindr and Manhunt make me embarrassed to be part of the queer community because they make all gay people look like predatory sluts by association.
It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if Apple kicked both of them off of IOS.
liquid
@Steve: to be fair Steve, Apple does the same with all apps-as well as filter for hatespeech, unapproved third party content, copyright violations, and anything else they decide they don’t like. Apple has made a pretty strong commitment to keeping iOS free from all adult content, and, whether you agree with the censorship or not, they have been nothing if not even handed about it.
the crustybastard
Apple Computer, Inc.’s apple-missing-a-bite logo is an homage to Alan Turing, father of computer science.
Turing was convicted for the crime of being gay. He committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide.
Dan L
The rainbow flag was not adapted for gay people until 1978, so you can’t really count that as something that was “gay” when adapted.
PS
I’ve used Apple products for just over 30 years and have purchased several iPods, iPhones, MacBooks, etc. I think that Steve Job’s influence will be extraordinarily missed by many of us. My sincere condolences to his family and to those at Apple. His death and life speaks volumes about his impact on our culture. I’ve never seen ANY businessman receive the international recognition that Steve Jobs has received over the past 24 hours.
In regards to Steve’s views on LGBT issues, he’s very supportive of LGBT equality. Do I wish that he had done more when it comes to donating $$$ towards these causes? Yes. But, seeing Tim Cook promoted to one of the most influential companies in the world says a lot about how far we’ve come and how inclusive Apple Inc. is. I’m sure everyone at Apple knows about his sexuality, including Steve and the board. And, I’m sure the latter is aware of other aspects of his personal life on this topic. Tim may be private. But, he’s not in the closet. And, now Tim is CEO of one of the world’s most known tech companies. It is an amazing thing to see, something that we would not have seen 30 years ago with ANY other leading international company. Go Tim! And, thank you to Steve Jobs for being a visionary and for being 10 steps ahead of everyone else when it comes to innovation.
newcityspot
I am, not like I think I am, one of the few people who really didn’t feel affected by his passing. I didn’t really see him as a visionary, I wasn’t inspired by the products, as usually there was something on the market that had the capabilities, just not the design. So he did bring design to a aesthetically unappealing industry product. But he didn’t invent the mp3 player, nor the tablet. He didn’t appear to give money away, you never saw him at charity events, and is noted to have said that basically it just wasn’t for him. He stuck to making Apple products, which I never could afford for what I needed. I couldn’t find a need to pay the additional 300-500 more for a product that could essentially do the same thing as something else already available, just not as sleek. I just didn’t think what he accomplished was as great as being likened to Einstein, Ford, Tesla, or the others people are writing on Facebook, and blogs all over. What did he really do for people other than offer an expensive product that could do some really neat things? Not everyone can afford Apple products, or pay the premium to experience what others are experiencing. In that, how did he really give? Sounds like it was a good business, that’s all.
Gregorie
If you weren’t affected — if in fact, you were so indifferent — why did you bother to post all that?
Bryan
^er, he stated his opinions on why he wasn’t affected, there’s nothing wrong with that. That isn’t the same as when someone says “i couldn’t care less” and still posts a comment.
Anyways R.I.P Steve Jobs.
I love my iTouch but the eulogies are getting a bit OTT. He’s no way comparable to Edison like some idiot said. He was very good at taking stuff already existing, making them better and packaging them more attractively. Also not to sound cynical about the article, but none of those things listed beside the job benefits for LGBT people are anything specific to apple as a company.
purple_squirrel
@Gregorie:
I didn’t think that was actually true? but still would be cool.
Haightmale
He was an original and there will be never be another like him. How many CEO’s tripped on acid, was a college dropout, started 3 succesful companies (he bought Pixar from George Lucas and look at their success. Amazing.
http://www.jiveinthe415.com/2011/10/steve-jobs-most-important-have-courage.html
http://www.jiveinthe415.com/2011/10/world-lost-giant-rip-steve-jobs.html
hi2u2
While I am far from an apple fan boy I have been involved in technology regarding computers for the better portion of my life. What most fail to realize is with out Steve Jobs/Apple companies like Microsoft, Xerox, and IBM to name a few would never be where they are today. The first Mac’s were comprised mostly of Bill Gates software. And with Apples help xerox was able to bring a computer to life with graphics. Something unheard of at the time. These are just a few examples of many. Yes while Steve wasn’t about the spot light and rarely spoke publicly it was just who he was. Most computer techies are ‘anti-social’ to say the least. But he did donate to stop prop 8, could he have done more? sure. Could most of us donate more money and time the cause? I’m sure a majority would say yes, myself included…
RIP Mr Jobs. While I mostly hated what your products have become they truly have revolutionized the modern world. And without you technology would never be where it is today. Thank you, You will be missed.
john
@the crustybastard: On 8 June 1954, Turing’s cleaner found him dead; he had died the previous day. A post-mortem examination established that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. When his body was discovered an apple lay half-eaten beside his bed, and although the apple was not tested for cyanide, it is speculated that this was the means by which a fatal dose was delivered. David Leavitt has suggested that Turing was re-enacting a scene from the 1937 film Snow White, his favourite fairy tale, pointing out that he took “an especially keen pleasure in the scene where the Wicked Witch immerses her apple in the poisonous brew.”
the crustybastard
@hi2u2: “The first Mac’s were comprised mostly of Bill Gates software.”
Bullshit.
the crustybastard
@john:
Congratulations on your ability to plagiarize wikipedia. What’s your point?
ronsfo
It saddens me to see Steve Jobs passing, he’s been the heart of Mac for so long, the company will change now that he’s gone. On the bright side, a openly Gay CEO at the helm of Apple make me feel really proud.
I have a long personal history with Apple, I owned one of the early series Apple II+ machines in 1980, then the Apple IIe, finally the Apple IIGS, (graphic and sound) Steve Wozniak’s computer for the education market. It was the ultimate in machines of the price range, but Apple soon abandoned that machine and focused their marketing on the well on its way in popularity, the Apple Macintosh, and of course it wasn’t long before I bought one of those stand cute little alone Mac boxes, and down the line to today with my powerful MacPro that can do everything except jerk me off, well let me rethink that, I use my machine for video editing, but I still don’t own a smart phone, maybe next year.
I have a love/hate relationship with Apple over the years over their propriety strategies vs. open framework computing; as a result, today I have both systems. I was pissed off at Apple over their tantrum with Adobe regarding Premiere and Final Cut Studio, today the market is swinging back the other direction again.
I’ll bitch and moan, but I still go out and buy a new MacPro next year with solid-state drives, how sweet but pricy, you can thank Steve Jobs for the disposable computer marketing success and does anyone remember Jobs’ NeXT computer system?
Has everyone thrown out their 5” floppy disks? Most people too young to remember them.
ewwew ewe
Millions of people better than Steve Jobs have died and nobody cared.
Apple is a fashion brand like Prada. Apple did not “innovate”, they simply made their own versions of technology already invented by other people, and people bought the Apple branded stuff because of the Apple name. What was Apple first at? What about the Commodore PET, Xerox PARC and Alto, GEOS graphical user interface, Amiga, Atari ST, Diamond Rio MP3 player, Palm Pilot, Blackberry, HP iPaq, Microsoft Tablet PC, etc., etc., etc.?
Steve Jobs was not an engineer and did not even know how to write a computer program. Where was his genius? Apple fired him in 1985 because he was such a jerk and a bad businessman. Even Apple products were not created by Steve Jobs, but by actual engineers such as Steve Wozniak, who Steve Jobs stabbed in the back.
the crustybastard
@ewwew ewe: What was Apple first at?
First workable graphical user interface
“Desktop” Metaphor with Trash
WYSIWYG display
Multiple monitor support
Full-page displays
Multi-page displays
Practical mouse
Hot-swappable peripherals
Menus
Windows
Collapsable windows
Hierarchical menus
Tear-off menus
Moveable palettes
Scroll control
Hotkeys, standardized across applications
Long file names
Laptop with palmrest design
Trackpads
Drag-and-drop application installation
Plug-and-play printing
Laser printing
Page setup & print dialogs
Standard PostScript support
Standard 3.5″ floppy
Standard network ports
Standard SCSI
Standard CD-ROM
IEEE-1394 “Firewire”
TCP/IP
First-person networked games
File sharing
QuickTake digital camera
Virtual memory
Scripting
Desktop publishing
TrueType fonts
Color management
Integrated telephony
Integrated email
Integrated web browser
RISC chip
Scroll wheel
Hardware capable of running either Mac or Windows
Software capable of running either Mac or Windows
Workable “Personal Digital Assistant” handhelds
Workable handwriting recognition
And probably the superlative invention in personal computing — so sublime as to virtually escape notice — the Finder.
Apple is merely a “fashion brand” if you’re a brokeass nimrod who don’t know shit about technology. Even when you compare Apple against all other computer companies combined, Apple still fares well.
Get over it, stop hating.
Mykey
You forgot to mention that the apple logo was also a tribute to Alan Turing (hence the original rainbow colour, I guess), one of the first fathers of computer science, and also gay, who’s machine is what most computer machines are based on! He committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cianide, following the tale of Snow White, coz some powers that be thought he should undergo reparative treatment to reduce his gay urges! RIP dude!
Mykey
You forgot to mention that the apple logo was also a tribute to Alan Turing (hence the original rainbow colour, I guess), one of the first fathers of computer science, and also gay, who’s machine is what most computer machines are based on! He committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide, following the tale of Snow White, coz some powers that be thought he should undergo reparative treatment to reduce his gay urges! RIP dude!
David Uell
A Hwood website says Jobs’ wife was his beard? Any truth to that?
travshad
@the crustybastard: The apple logo doesn’t have anything to do with Alan Turing. The original apple logo was Issac Newton sitting underneath an apple tree. Jobs had a graphic artist, Rob Janoff, design the now famous apple logo. According to Janoff the bite mark was to so it looked like and apple and not a tomato.
pumpkin
Is anyone else tired of the consumer obsessed world being hashed out to us and being called “gay pride”. i think it is awesome that apple was an equal opp employer, while at the same time i don’t really give two shits about its contributions to repeal prop 8, well because i am getting kinda tired with the whole gay marriage and (regular?) marriage bullshit in general!
if you want a “real” gay cause look to the homeless queer youth who’ve been kicked out of their homes, or the state of queers in minorities, or how about underclass queers!?!?!
but more than likely a lot of gays out there will read this and continue to have a gay ole american wet dream of finding a gay powerfull business man then adopting cute lil babies that you spent a ton of money on from overseas (just like that celeb in people mag! omg!) and having your homes stocked with “sleek” and “sexy” apple products
if this is gay rights please count me out
sfsilver
By ALL reports the regressive and highly moralistic censorship policies in place over content for apps was driven entirely by Jobs. He accomplished much, but this censorious streak, which disproportionately effects LGBT related content and voices is a giant black stain on his legacy. I find it strange that LGBT folks universally despise Target over a political donation that was made to a politician who was anti-Gay but not for the express purpose of promoting an anti-Gay agenda, give Apple a pass on a policy (still in place) that silences LGBT voices and businesses that are perceived to be “too adult” or “too sexual”.
Bryan
@the crustybastard: Fanboyism/fanaticism is a scary thing.
joyce
2 things resonate with me when I think about Steve Jobs..
1. as the 11th (?) richest man, when asked to contribute a large part of his fortune to socially progressive causes..like Bill Gates and others, he declined..
2. He denied his 1st born child the benefit of his economic success, weird..
n900mixalot
WOW!! This is the last place I would expect to find differing opinions on the guy’s … effect on the world/society. That’s my own shortcoming and i apologize for underestimating readers here.
The man was a robot with nothing but the desire to create things that people wanted. He was the ultimate capitalist, the embodiment of capitalism. For that he was amazing, but I have a fundamental problem with it. He was willing to do WHATEVER it took to make people buy his company’s products for the sake of growing his business, and was extremely heavy handed about it. It had nothing to do with what was right, in terms of the environment, education, and health, at least as far as what made the company look good in the eyes of consumers.
Whether that is good or bad is a matter of perspective though. He knew that people would spend more money and consume more product in pursuit of greater happiness, and capitalized on it. What more is iTunes than a slop trough for those who want more and more apps! “The more apps the better,” was what Apple stood for, and still does. Buy the latest iPhone, get more and more apps!
Happiness is like human oil.
Anyway, hopefully he will rest in peace and those who love him will find/keep happiness.
the crustybastard
@Bryan:
Taking pride in one’s ignorance is far scarier.
Yvan Enrique
Hijos de puta, eso es lo que son, unos HIJOS DE PUTA.