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Tim Cook: "I'm Proud To Be Gay"
An anonymous reader writes Apple CEO Tim Cook has publicly come out as gay. While he never hid his sexuality from friends, family, and close co-workers, Cook decided it was time to make it publicly known in the hopes that the information will help others who don't feel comfortable to do so. He said, "I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy."
Cook added that while the U.S. has made progress in recent years toward marriage equality, there is still work to be done. "[T]here are laws on the books in a majority of states that allow employers to fire people based solely on their sexual orientation. There are many places where landlords can evict tenants for being gay, or where we can be barred from visiting sick partners and sharing in their legacies. Countless people, particularly kids, face fear and abuse every day because of their sexual orientation."
Cook added that while the U.S. has made progress in recent years toward marriage equality, there is still work to be done. "[T]here are laws on the books in a majority of states that allow employers to fire people based solely on their sexual orientation. There are many places where landlords can evict tenants for being gay, or where we can be barred from visiting sick partners and sharing in their legacies. Countless people, particularly kids, face fear and abuse every day because of their sexual orientation."
So he isn't sad?
Neither would I be with that income stream and position of power.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
He should be more concerned with what he does with his Apple than what he does with his banana.
who cares?
Gays are equal to straights and should have the same rights. I find it sad that announcements like this still make headlines. It shouldn't matter nor should anyone really care (unless they are looking to hook up).
Sort of like, "I'm proud to be 5'10"", or, "I'm proud to be male" or something. We have exactly nothing to do with creating these conditions so why would we be proud of them? Things to be proud of would be, "I wrote some amazing code." Or perhaps, "I ran five miles and made my personal best time." You aren't supposed to be proud of things you had no control of...
Who _didn't_ already know he was gay? Show of hands...
The only orientation I care about at Apple is the one my screen gets stuck in. You're gay? Fantastic. Now fix the code.
Congratulations Cook, good for you, have a cookie. Now, how soon until we stop giving a shit about people's sexualities when there are more important things in the world.
Where I (or others) put my (or their) genitalia has nothing to do with making ends meet at the end of the day.
I don't care what other ppl do, nor should the federal government.
He is. Did you even read his statement? He quite clearly didn't personally want to make his private life so public, but felt that it's in the public's best interest to know as it might help fight bigotry and intolerance.
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It's 2014, nobody cares. Don't be an attention-whore.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du9zcjjvVyo
no one cares that you are gay. just make some cool technology for me to lust after.
It is what it is.
For pretty much all people in tech I've worked with, yes it doesn't matter really. No one gives a fuck if you're gay, poly or whatever.
However, outside of the tech world, I've had to deal with plenty of people who are still disgusted by gays or get angry about the whole gay marriage thing. Let's not even get into what happen to that gay kid in high school when you live in a small rural towns. I've seen it when I was in high school, I still hear about it from younger teen, I've recently seen a father disavow his kid because he was gay. I could go on and on and I'm not gay, so I can't imagine the horror stories a gay person would've to tell, of growing up in a small rural town.
This is 2014. "Being gay" being headline-worthy even for the CEO of a company the size of Apple is soooooo last century.
Now if he were dating George P. Bush, that would be fodder for the gossip columns. But not for Slashdot. We are beyond that, I hope.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Would posting a message like that make you look homophobic?
Still to this day I can't fathom why anyone pays so much for a name
And some stylish (if overpriced) hardware, and the most user-friendly OS out there.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Let the fruit jokes commence! (omg please don't give this +5 offensive, just can't resist)
Did you get beat up in high school for being 5'10"? Have you ever been told that you're only legally allowed to marry people within a particular height range?
I thought not.
It's not so much as being proud of being gay - but standing up to bigotry an intolerance is something to be proud of.
So... the reason why the top infection rates for HIV seem like they're reserved for Africa is because Africa is a paradise for gays.
Yeah. You're making a lot of sense.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Does this mean they are bringing back the rainbow colored apple logo?
Believing in God does not necessarily entail believing in his ground crew.
Personally, I'm not sure God has any faith in them anymore.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It's not proud as in "I am proud that I have successfully accomplished gayness." It's proud as in the opposite of "I'm ashamed that I am gay and/or feel that I have to hide it."
Except that they do make news. You would never have even heard of this story if it weren't news and weren't of interest to a lot of people. Maybe you don't think it's important and you treat gays exactly the same way you treat anyone else, yawning if someone announces being either gay or straight. But the world itself is not as comfortable with it as you are, and the world still feels it's unusual, there are places where it's still illegal to be gay.
I thought belief in God and being gay were mutually exclusive
Well, then, you're an idiot.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Got a picture of your wife on your desk? Ever mention her in offhand conversation? Sure would be nice if gay people were free to do that too without being fired, which isn't true in a lot of places.
Getting back to Tim Cook's "letter to..." someones and the quote therein: "I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me". ok, probably unfortunate to drag a deity in this; but does this imply that being gifted with non-gayness isn't a gift? i'll leave the sophistry to others.
"[T]here are laws on the books in a majority of states that allow employers to fire people based solely on their sexual orientation.
Translation: The employment laws in most states allow for "at-will" employment, meaning the employer can fire you for any reason EXCEPT for a relatively short list of legally-protected reasons which (in those states) do not include sexual orientation.
There are many places where landlords can evict tenants for being gay,
If he had said "not lease/not renew leases to gay tenants" he'd be spot-on - most states give landlords wide latitude in choosing their tenants as long as they don't discriminate against certain protected classes of people which in many states don't include homosexuals. I don't know of any state that allows a legally binding housing contract to include a "no gay" clause unless it's a shared-housing arrangement (e.g. boarders in a family home, in states where such boarders have extremely wide latitude in choosing tenants) or religiously-sponsored housing (such as in a religious university's dormitories where no public funds are used). That said, some landlords do prohibit unrelated adults from cohabitation, but it applies just as much to non-gay (and gay) roommates sharing costs as it does to gay roommates sharing much more.
or where we can be barred from visiting sick partners and sharing in their legacies.
The same statement can be said about any boyfriend/fiancee. This statement is practically equivalent to saying "or where we can't the rights typically afforded to married people."
Basically, he's just saying "being gay should be a protected class for employment and housing" and "either gay marriage should be legal or those in a committed relationship similar to marriage should have next-of-kin rights for medical visitation and inheritance".
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Honestly, I'm glad to hear the guy is proud to be gay. He should be. We should ALL be proud of who we are, instead of regretting it or wasting time wishing we were different.
The world would be a really boring place if all of us were "wired" exactly the same, with the exact same interests, habits and tendencies.
But his sexual orientation was published years ago, and came up again some time earlier this year in news articles. So I'm not sure exactly how THIS time around is supposed to mean anything special?
I hate to say it, but I do think all of this is at least partially motivated by a marketing angle for Apple. The company has long been known to be relatively "gay friendly" in hiring practices and in loyal user-base. (Perhaps some of that simply stems from a tendency for the gay community to care more than others about product attributes like style, design or elegance .... all areas not so often associated with computer technology but embraced by Apple since early on?) Perhaps it's just that Tim Cook feels it's a good "climate" to promote Apple as a very equal-opportunity company to work for? I don't know ... but it doesn't seem relevant to bother mentioning it (especially if he's serious about valuing his privacy like he claims), otherwise?
To all those saying "who cares?" it matters precisely for the reasons Cooks give. Not everyone enjoys the same benefits as straight people in our society due to bigotry and ignorance enshrined in various State laws. If Cook can help bring attention to this, more power to him.
Right, so the next time someone makes a joke starting with, "Hey, did you hear the one about the guy with 10-fingers?" Or the next time some demi-celebrity tweets, "@SoAndSo, That's so 10-toed." Or political figures build entire platforms on saying people with 10-fingers can't be legally married to other people with 10-fingers or adopt kids. Or a employer say, "Yeah, Mr. 10-fingers, we don't like people working here who have 10-fingers, so we're firing you." Or a landlord says, "I saw you bring that 10-fingered person into your apartment last night, so I'm evicting you." Or religious figures say things like, "Ebola is God's punishment for us allowing people with balls big as church bells to be accepted by society." When any of these things happen, you'll have a point. Until then, there's a reason homosexuals feel a need to draw attention to something that really shouldn't matter, but which very much does in this society.
So it's great that you don't care what his orientation is and you would treat him exactly like you would treat anyone else. Congratulations on being part of the solution. But then you're not the target audience so why do you even care enough to post about how much you don't care?
Hmmm ... Why must it be kept within a marriage? What did Jesus say on the topic of marriage? and Why should the rest of society give a shit what your religious opinion is about with whom and when we have sex?
You simply do not get a vote on the sex lives of people who aren't members of your religion (or aren't you for that matter) ... and given the hypocrisy we see time and time again of religious people molesting children, cheating on their wives, or grabbing a little sausage in an airport bathroom ... why should we give any credibility to what you think?
Apply your own damn morality to yourselves. And STFU about the rest of the world.
You're free to have your own religion. You're not free to tell the rest of the world how to live.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
"I'm proud to be (insert ethnicity/color/sexual preference)".
You don't often hear of people that aren't "proud" of those things.
Last I checked pride comes from something one achieves rather than something someone is born with/as.
It's because you're privileged and hopelessly unaware of it, or you're homophobic, or both.
Mod this down all you want, but it's still true.
You're not free to tell the rest of the world how to live.
Yet just told me to STFU expressing an opinion concerning religion after expresing your own opinion concerning religion. Now that's hypocrisy.
no and have no idea why people have pictures of wife/kids/whatever in the workplace. that's just stupid.
"Contrary to popular belief, UNIX is user friendly. It just happens to be selective on who it makes friendship with"
However, outside of the tech world, I've had to deal with plenty of people who are still disgusted by gays or get angry about the whole gay marriage thing
I work in tech in a very liberal Canadian city and have a bunch of gay friends, and sometimes get lulled into thinking the world is a big happy accepting place.
Then I step outside the downtown bubble, just by a few miles, and I'm stunned by what I sometimes encounter. I do a little writing for a group that makes short films, and we had a shoot where one of the actors didn't show up. He was part of a couple, and I suggested we recast the part using a woman who didn't have a part yet, so the couple would be gay but everything else would be the same. The film was about relationships and this couple was fighting about stuff. There might be a hug at the end, but nothing more overtly affectionate than that.
The young, professional woman I suggested this too looked at me with her eyes literally wide with horror and said, "I'm sorry, I can't do that. I'm really straight."
In that situation it wasn't my place to berate her for her bigotry, particularly as I didn't think until much later of the correct come-back: "You're really earthbound, too, but I bet you'd play an astronaut if I asked you to."
So yeah, while to so many of us this is a done deal, our gay friends and family still have to walk around every day wondering when they are going to encounter that kind of horrified rejection, and while at least they don't get beat up as often as they used to it still has to be pretty awful for them.
If anyone wants people like Tim Cook to stop making a big deal about being gay (and really, don't we all want that?) they should make sure to be accepting and matter-of-fact about the gay people all around us, whose much-talked-about "agenda" involves living happy, fulfilling lives.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
That's true. However, what gays want is truely a civil union so that they can partake in the same legal benifits and protections that a heterosexual married couple does.
Life is not for the lazy.
...why is this news? I couldn't care less about Tim Cook'sÃ"or anyone else'sÃ"sexual practices.
However, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly come out as heterosexual.
While I never hid my sexuality from friends, family, and close co-workers, I decided it was time to make it publicly known in the hopes that the information will help others who don't feel comfortable to do so. "I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that a Slashdotter is straight can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy."
While the U.S. has made progress in recent years toward marriage equality, including polygamy, there is still work to be done. "[T]here are laws on the books in a majority of states that allow employers to fire people based solely on their sexual orientation. There are many places where landlords can evict tenants for being straight, or where we can be barred from visiting sick spouses and sharing in their legacies. Countless people, particularly kids, face fear and abuse every day because of their sexual orientation."
> *well, no-one worth listening to, probably
Right. But there are many, and they vote and hold office and make policy.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
No, no, if it sounds like something, it's homophonic.
You would never have even heard of this story if it weren't news and weren't of interest to a lot of people.
We wouldn't have heard it *this time*, and frankly, good cause I'm tired of hearing about his sexual preferences making the news. This has been in articles since before he was CEO of Apple. This is not new nor is it news. #slownewsday
Jesus confronted the Samaritan woman at the well about her multiple divorces, and the fact that she was currently unmarried (John 4). He also commented that God hates divorce, and only gave it to us because our hearts were hard-- which implies that marriage has value.
Also, Creimer was responding to another person's question about Cook's invocation of God in his speech. So maybe you shouldn't rush to judgement yourself, since you obviously missed the context of an ongoing discussion.
Finally, I should note that an appeal to hypocrisy is irrelevant to an argument which depends only on whether it is true or false.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
What about not owning Apple products, does that make you look homophobic? Well then, if you don't want to be seen as homophobic you'd better run out and get yourself an iPad (as in this instant), or make out with a dude. Either will work if it's that important to you.
The stuff about homosexuality being sinful is in Romans 1:26-27.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
I mean, I have no dog in this fight (I'm a straight atheist) but I honestly have no respect for anyone who calls themselves "Christian" and claims that the Bible doesn't call homosexuality a sin. It does. In both Testaments. It's pretty blatantly clear. If you're going to call yourself a Christian and demand I follow your stupid book, you could at least follow it yourself! If you don't like the lessons it teaches or the God it presents, then perhaps you should reevaluate if you really want to call yourself a "Christian."
Awesome. Now get back to make my Apple stock worth more!
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
You can express any opinion you want.
But holding that opinion doesn't mean that any religious entity should have any legal standing to determine what is, and what isn't a valid marriage (or any other law).
A bunch of religious people getting together to decide it should be their right to curtail the rights of others is just horseshit.
My problem with religion is it seems to have some special exemption to be a bigoted douchebag, and have that be a protected status.
So religious people who want to be able to say "I won't serve you because you're gay", and have that be considered a defensible legal position ... would also like to guarantee in law that someone can't say "we're not serving you because you're a Christian moron who says hateful things". It's the same hate and bigotry, but yours somehow has a special legal exemption.
At which point, I think the legal protections for your opinions should carry no more legal weight than who likes which football team more.
So, as long as religion feels they should have exemptions in civil society based on their religious beliefs, and that those beliefs somehow confer an obligation on the rest of us ... I will treat your religion with the contempt it deserves.
It's the very vocal opinion of people who prefer vanilla ice cream to chocolate, which somehow is supposed to have special standing in terms of the law.
Campaigning against the rights of other people which have absolutely no impact on you is moronic. It just makes you a bunch of idiots who think the world is required to listen to your bullshit.
Fuck that.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I don't care what his personal preferences are. The iPhone 6 is still too damn big to fit in a pocket. Steve Jobs is spinning in his grave and it isn't because Mr. Cook likes men.
Bill Gates is a communist -- he's just more equal than the rest of us.
i have to give Tim Cook a lot of credit for the courage it took for him to publicly admit to being gay in a culture still not completely willing to accept gays. Especially since he is at the helm of a very high profile company and it provides an interesting counterpoint to Chick-Fil-A's CEO's anti-gay sentiments.
Jesus never commented on homosexuality in the New Testament. What the Bible does say about homosexuality comes from the Old Testament and Paul the Apostle in the New Testament. If the Son of God has nothing to say about homosexuality, it probably doesn't matter as long as sexual relations is kept within a marriage.
Your 99 cent theology sucks. Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh and as such, he was the one who created man and woman as part of the created order. Therefore, the OT stated exactly how strongly God felt about homosexuality and Jesus never redefined that. In fact, Jesus didn't redefine sin; he redefined the punishment for sin because he was to bear that punishment himself on behalf and in place of mankind. Jesus called out the woman at the well for adultery, which was also condemned in the OT, and he told the prostitute to go and sin no more. Paul spoke about unnatural relations which was understood at the time to include homosexuality, bestiality, incest, et al.
As for my opinion of Mr. Cook, it didn't change a bit. It's between him and God. He had big shoes to fill and I hope he continues to run the company well. Wish I had bought when the stock tanked into the $400's.
"Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder."
Wearing my fundie hat, marriage is considered a religious sacrament.
Doffing that hat, and being realistic with the gay couples I know with kids, I'd far rather see kids raised with two dads or moms than a single parent who is barely trying to make ends meet while trying to take care of the kids.
Interesting thing, the kids I know from gay couples tend to be a step above when it comes to education and even IQ. However, I don't have that vast a subject pool, so chalk this up as anecdotal.
It doesn't seem all that courageous to me to declare you're gay *after* you've completed the climb up the corporate ladder to the CEO position. It would be more impressive if he did it before the perceived risk to his career had long-since passed. Doesn't set a good example for other gays - hiding the fact you're gay until it's safe career-wise to come out.
Wait, so you suggested to someone who was straight to play a gay part? Tolerance does not mean forced acceptance. I am pro-gay rights, but I find gay porn disgusting. That does not make me a homophobe.
I have been single the entire time I have been at my current employer. The only personal item I have at my desk is a slinky. My company can't tell whether I'm gay or straight unless I tell them.
Got a picture of your wife on your desk? Ever mention her in offhand conversation? Sure would be nice if gay people were free to do that too without being fired, which isn't true in a lot of places.
Where? These days, what you suggest is pretty much illegal (in the USA) so I suggest that when you see such things take place, make a point to take such cases to COURT.
Everyplace I've worked in the last 15 years, firing for the things you suggest would be grounds for a lawsuit, not to mention run afoul of company policy in which we where usually trained annually. There are complaint processes and a whole department of Human Resources people who's job it is to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen.
Where I'd not say it never happens today, I don't think it is as common as you might seem to think.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I will treat your religion with the contempt it deserves.
That's fine. But keep in mind I was expressing an opinion about religion, not banging you over the head with the Bible to convert you.
Because lots of people don't share your ludicrously stupid idea of what marriage is.
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MP3 players, Smartphones, etc. Apple did not invent them but succeeded into making that technology widespread, convincing people that it was harmless and that they could interact with them, until it became part of their regular lives. Let's hope this announcement helps do the same with relationships of the same gender.
In some places you'd be fired for your "lifestyle".
Where? The only places that can do this legally are Religious organizations, and even then only under specific circumstances. Given the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, I don't see how you are going to get around the religious exemption. But apart from that, I dare say this kind of thing doesn't happen all that often these days. When and where it does, the courts should be invoked to make sure it doesn't happen to the next person.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Then why are infertile couples allowed to get married?
Sorry, but to anybody who isn't a believer in your damned god .. the bible is 100% written by humans who claim to have been spoken to directly by god.
Anybody who made such claims now would be investigated for schizophrenia, and a host of other mental illnesses. So why should we believe these people were any different?
Just because you believe god himself wrote that book, doesn't mean there's any truth to that, or proof of it.
The existence of the bible is not proof of god. Not even a little.
So, if god wants to tell us what is approved, why doesn't he get on his loudspeaker, and tell all of us what he's thinking instead of whispering in the ear of crazy people? Surely he's got the ability to remove any ambiguity and confusion?
Your collective delusion is your problem. Don't offer it as proof to the rest of us. Because we're not buying it.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Got a picture of your wife on your desk? Ever mention her in offhand conversation? Sure would be nice if gay people were free to do that too without being fired, which isn't true in a lot of places.
...Everyplace I've worked in the last 15 years, firing for the things you suggest would be grounds for a lawsuit, not to mention run afoul of company policy in which we where usually trained annually...
you obviously don't work on Duck Dynasty
The 'gay==hiv' thing was true, once - the disease was first detected in the gay population and spread quickly through that group. Twenty years ago. All the best myths have a grain of truth in them, and in this one the truth is that the claim was once right - it is simply outdated. It persists because it reenforces something that many people desperately wish were true - the idea that there could be a concrete, scientific way to show that homosexuality harms society and should be prohibited.
Got a picture of your wife on your desk? Ever mention her in offhand conversation? Sure would be nice if gay people were free to do that too without being fired, which isn't true in a lot of places.
I must admit I'd be a bit bothered if some gay person had a picture of my wife on his or her desk.
#DeleteChrome
Well, first off, this has nothing to do with Tim's sexual orientation in my mind. But rather that he just leveraged his position as Apple CEO to further a personal social issue.
Second, if this was the Apple Computer of the 1990's or 1980's I might view the action as more appropriate. In those days coming out as a gay man had a real impact on people and was an impetus for social change. But today? It's more likely that coming out as gay is unremarkable.
Then for me, as someone who worked for Apple in the 1990's, there's this nagging feeling of unease with a move like this. It's hard for me to remember any time when any of the CEOs, or notable Apple alumni, ever leveraged their position at Apple for a personal political issue. This was something I've always had great respect for. The company was focused on changing it's part of the universe, not involved in political issues outside of it's market.
So perhaps my feelings, given the current political landscape, are that this move was somewhat impotent. There's plenty of gay CEOs at this point. There's very little risk in coming out as gay these days.
Maybe it's better expressed in a metaphor....
It's like hiding to avoid the cops during the Stonewall Riots- and then stating with pride that you were there decades later when it's safe to do so.
Now... if I could see Tim getting involved with marriage rights in his free time, without leveraging Apple, to forward the marriage rights agenda- I'd have some respect. In today's climate- coming out means nothing.
But this whole "If people can see a gay Apple CEO.... and I'm doing my small part" thing is somewhat lame from my standpoint. He shoudl just be publicly working towards marriage reform outside of Apple, publicly, and keep the leveraging to a minimum.
End Note: I'm not an important former Apple employee. In fact no one would remember me. I'm also proud to be a straight, Italian American, Hairy-Backed, semi-retired guy- and I never have leveraged any job I had while advocating for the de-stigmafication of plush back hair.
*shrug*
Another consultant who stuck it out.
"We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx..."
Well obviously they work long hours and never go home. They keep the pictures on their desk so they remember what they look like.
Wow. I've known LGTB individual for years, and the lifestyle that you describe is completely new to me. I've don't know a single person that is being a pervert, anal sex, drugs, rape, life constantly centered around sex, acting crazy, misoginy, low morals, irresponsibility, polyamory, huge vector of STDs, generally distrustful, known to play the victim, and the worst of all pederasty. Where did you get this from?
tl;dr: citation, please.
Goodbye Slashdot. You've changed.
Got a picture of your wife on your desk? Ever mention her in offhand conversation? Sure would be nice if gay people were free to do that too without being fired, which isn't true in a lot of places.
...Everyplace I've worked in the last 15 years, firing for the things you suggest would be grounds for a lawsuit, not to mention run afoul of company policy in which we where usually trained annually...
you obviously don't work on Duck Dynasty
Right, and you obviously didn't actually read what Phil said in the context of the questions being asked him, you just read the news reports about what his detractors said about it. Phil may be a bit abrupt and not very delicate about how he worded things, but he was asked for his opinion.
As I understand it, a number of the crew working to film the DD shows profess to be homosexuals and not one of them has complained about how the Duck guys treat them. But that doesn't fit the picture so nobody reads that in an investigative news story.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Like his corporate rivals within Apple? Like his business rivals outside of Apple? Anyone in a position to use it against him?
I guess I don't see the point of the announcement unless it was something unknown except to his closest friends.
It would also seem less like grandstanding if it came along with a $100 million endowment to some charity meant to overcome sexual orientation bullying or something.
and the fact that she was currently unmarried
He wasn't confronting her about being unmarried. He was confronting her about being with a man she was not married to.
Also, there are plenty of gay people with children. Some people take a bit longer to figure out they are gay, and there's plenty of time to become a father or mother before you figure it out. Surely a parent with a child shouldn't only be allowed, but even encouraged, to get married.
So tolerant...
That's a crazy list. Citation absolutely fucking needed for all of it. "40% or more of gay people are pedophiles"? Back that up right now or take it back.
P.S. A quick Google found this:http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/faculty_sites/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html
The conclusion section:
Plenty of people are proud to be white, too. Then again, the KKK doesn't have a great reputation.
Your impression is flawed, because marriage ISNT about making babies.
Marriage also confers certain legal rights, priviledges, and protections.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Else we wouldn't have dozens of posts claiming they couldn't, yet still post to let us know.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Next week, Samsung's CEO will also claim to be gay.
Then Microsoft will say that they've been working on gay for years, and they have their own implementation that, while being incompatible with other gays, is superior and should be a world wide standard. It will be the only standard that Windows supports.
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
People aren't opposed to homosexuals, they are opposed to homosexual lifestyle: being a pervert, anal sex, drugs, rape, life constantly centered around sex, acting (and most of times being) crazy, misoginy, low morals, irresponsibility, polyamory, huge vector of STDs, generally distrustful, known to play the victim, and the worst of all pederasty (40% or more of gay people are pedophiles, which is why they are barred from adoption).
I know quite a few straight people who done most, if not everything, on your list. Some of them even called themselves Christians. Homosexual are sinners like the rest of us. It's not our place to judge and condemn them. God will decide everyone's fate.
How can you be proud of something you're born as, or did he actually make a hard choice to be gay, and is thus proud of his choice?
Now let me think... If he had said "I'm proud to be American", or "I'm proud to be Californian", or "I'm proud of whatever you can think of except being gay", would you or would anyone else here complain about it?
The truth is that it just pains your little homophobic heart that someone dares saying they are proud to be gay.
But his sexual orientation was published years ago, and came up again some time earlier this year in news articles.
There's a big difference between rumours and open secrets and something that's put on the public record.
I stole this Sig
It should, perhaps, be noted that back when the Feds were setting up all those tax privileges for married couples, infertility was grounds for annulment....
That's no longer true, of course. Mostly because divorce has become so easy that the concept of "annulment" has pretty much disappeared....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Your 99 cent theology sucks.
For the record, I'm not a theologian. I did spent 13 years in a non-denominational church that used the Book of Acts as it guiding principle for nearly 30 years. After the founder was tossed out for failing to deliever the Second Coming between 1999 and 2001, the church went back to the Gospels. I was tossed out a few years later because I doubted they knew what the hell they were doing in the post-founder era. Please excuse if what I learned about God and the Bible doesn't meet your high theological standards.
Wish I had bought when the stock tanked into the $400's.
As long as money is involved, all sins are forgiven.
Well, to coin one top tech figure: Brendan Eich obviously cares, since he paid good money to prevent Tim from ever marrying if Tim were so inclined.
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
If a group of people wanted to exclude homosexuals from their territory, paying the relocation costs of anyone who wanted to emigrate, how big must that group be before you would permit them to have their own way of life?
Seastead this.
That is what adoption is for (though I know several gay people who have children from hetero relationships as well).
Steve didn't give a shit. I don't give a shit. Looks like others here don't give a shit. So I will keep on not giving a shit whether he likes to play with other men's Penii or not.
..yes, and there is one area (which you mention) in which he feels he can help so he is.
He can't be a positive role model to black kids because he's not black*. He can't be a role model to disabled kids because he's not disabled*. He's doing what he can to help in one specific usecase. His efforts should be appreciated by everybody.
*I acknowledge you shouldn't be excluded from being a role model if you don't share the same skin colour or able-bodiness. But if you share those attributes I presume it creates a closer connection.
I'm not a nerd. Nerds are smart.
I doubt that this is being done at the insistence of Apple's marketing department, but I also doubt it was done without careful consideration of the potential impact on Apple Inc. and would not be happening if the anticipated results were negative. As the officer of a public corporation, there might even be legal obligations not to damage the company with public announcements like this (IANAL, hell I am not even mildly interested in law, so that's just a guess but it seems sort of right).
Most likely, any positive effects are happy coincidences. Surely Apple is very aware and willing to take advantage of them, but hard to believe they are the motivation behind the whole thing. Apple isn't exactly desperate for some marketing.
-Lod
Your 99 cent theology sucks. Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh
So did David Koresh. So maybe we have to take some bits of our $.99 theology fries with some salt.
People who are opposed to homosexuals are often Christians who quote heavily from the fire and brimstone passages of the Old Testament. If they have read their Bible (most don't), the New Testament replaced the Old Testament and Jesus commands us to love our neighbors.
Jesus also condemned sexual immorality, which under Judaism would have included homosexuality. A quick search finds this.
Matthew 15:16-20:
16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts--murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them."
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Your 99 cent theology sucks. Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh and as such, he was the one who created man and woman as part of the created order. Therefore, the OT stated exactly how strongly God felt about homosexuality and Jesus never redefined that. In fact, Jesus didn't redefine sin; he redefined the punishment for sin because he was to bear that punishment himself on behalf and in place of mankind. Jesus called out the woman at the well for adultery, which was also condemned in the OT, and he told the prostitute to go and sin no more.
The only thing worse than his 99 cent theology is your nickel logic.
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
Don't forget the capability to become a parent while in a homosexual relationship.
Just because you're attracted to members of one sex doesn't preclude procreation with the other. You don't have to actually enjoy it.
I suppose the thing is, folks are kind of tired of the whole " Celebrity X comes out of the closet " stories. Yeah, we get it. It's the 21st century. Outside of the ultra-religious and maybe a hate-group or two, this information is right up there with " The sky is blue, water is wet and fast food is unhealthy for you. "
Personally, many folks don't care if the guy is Gay, Purple, or part of the Man-Bear-Pig gene-splice. The only thing anyone wants out of him ( professionally ) is to create a rock solid product. User friendly, reliable, secure and stable. That's pretty much it.
His non-professional agenda is really no ones business and his public disclosure of it is, imo, nothing more than bragging or boasting. In fact, it may come back to haunt him. Take Russia, for example, they're not real friendly with the Gay crowd so they may do something entertaining and ban all Apple products in the country. Can't set a bad example for the Russian kiddos now can we ? lol
So, in publicly coming out, he may very well have torpedoed any potential profits that could have been made there. ( Strawman of course, but folks seriously need to keep the information about their private life separate from their professional one. )
As stated in TFS, it is legal in an awful lot of states, and just because it's not "common" doesn't mean it's worth ignoring or accepting.
I'm happy to live in the tech hub of greater Seattle which is extremely friendly, and of course California and New York and such are also places where you can develop the assumption that this kind of discrimination is illegal everywhere. It's really not, yet. Also you seem to be under the impression that everyone has a friendly HR department. I don't know what the percentages are, but I'm willing to bet that one hell of a lot of people work for small companies where hiring and firing are pretty much their boss's uncontested jurisdiction.
We tech nerds are lucky to live in the world we do. Things are a lot worse in other industries, even within the US, and keeping up the public opinion and legislative fights matter.
For one thing, on a bad day, it's a great reminder of why you keep bothering.
Besides, there's always sending out emails like "taking a vacation/sick day, my wife's not feeling well". I guess you could replace that with "my spouse" or just lie, but that's petty to have to do (and easy to forget). You could just not ever talk about your home life because it's nobody's business, but that's incredibly antisocial and not a good way to stay on good terms with your coworkers.
I was under the impression that 'marriage' was involved in stable child creation, and raising.
Less than half of all marriages result in kids. Far less than end up in divorce. Marriage is all about making divorce attorneys rich, not about kids.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
BULLSHIT
http://www.businessweek.com/ar...
Definition of abnormal: deviating from the normal or average.
;-)
So approximately 10% of the population is homosexual, therefore, "abnormal" is a proper term to use to describe people that are homosexuals.
Note that mensa members are abnormal, so are people that make more than $100,000 year. It's not a necessarily a derogatory term, it actually a proper factual description.
Yeah, posting to slashdot is definitely "abnormal" too since most people don't even know what slashdot is.
not important at all, you're just a hot-button focused kind of person. Instead, "why was Yosemite released with such bad bugs and looks like ass", that is the important question. Now if sitting on or sucking cocks is any part of the answer to that question, then I would care. But it probably isn't, so I don't
For me this news is about as interesting as if Tim Cook made a statement about being proud to be gray. As a fellow gray haired person, I wish someone would stand up publicly for the gray - we are just like everyone else, but too many people feel they have to hide their true colors from the public.
Being gay ought to be about as controversial as being gray.
I really don't care. When it he going to openly admit that he's running Apple into the ground and he's a know-nothing idiot who shouldn't be in charge of a company that size. THAT is what we're all waiting for.
The shocking thing for me was that Tim Cook appears to be religious.
I did not suspect that at all.
You're entirely missing the point. There are many people who feel that gay == shameful, the direct implication being that they want gay folk to feel ashamed. Proud is an in-their-face declaration that they are not ashamed.
That's all it is.
It's the same for any aspect of life for which there are detractors; some people think geekery is a bad thing; hence "geek and proud." Some people think prostitution is a bad thing; hence "sex worker and proud", and so on for a long list of "your prejudices do not define me" issues.
It's a very natural -- and correct -- reaction to a society where people are encouraged to coerce others into specific behavioral channels without regard for the consent or interest of those others.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I dont think you understand what bigotry means. I am free to turn down any offer or suggestion like that based on my own morals or beliefs, fears or paranoias. If im afraid of high places, i have all the freedom to turn down playing a skydiver when you ask me, it does not make me a bigot.
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Wait, so you suggested to someone who was straight to play a gay part? Tolerance does not mean forced acceptance. I am pro-gay rights, but I find gay porn disgusting. That does not make me a homophobe.
It's an actress. Nobody asked her to be gay. They asked her to act being a gay person. Wearing clothes.
You're an idiot if you don't see that in your case no-one is donating money to put the force of law against you.
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
To my unending regret, bigotry isn't lethal.
This aside, I'd like to see that study you claim to exist.
And the homophobia of African countries is hardly an effect of HIV. When you take a look at how it is transmitted and what social issues play a key factor in the whole mess it becomes understandable, while at the same time not having anything to do with homosexuality at all.
But don't let facts get in the way of your self-righteousness. I will never understand why people get bothered by crap that is none of their damn business. What's it to you if someone is gay?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Not to get into any way off-topic bible matter here, but even that passage (Romans 1:26:28) is subject to translation discussion. some say the Septuagint didn't know all the 'special' Hebrew/Aramaic words. And then the King James translators from the Latin/Greek applied their own ideas of sexual perversions. that is, it's worth going to a website that has many translations and seeing just how many of them include passages like "burned in lust one toward another" and those which somehow don't find that in the original
for example: God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural ...so what exactly "unnatural"? many folks think the know what that means, but there's a lot of years in between.
As stated in TFS, it is legal in an awful lot of states, and just because it's not "common" doesn't mean it's worth ignoring or accepting.
WHICH states? I live in Texas and it is most decidedly NOT legal to discriminate based on sexual orientation here. So I've got to ask, given Texas is about as conservative as it comes, where does this legally happen if it doesn't here? California?
As I understand this, the EEOC ruled in 2011 that such discrimination is illegal under the Civil Rights act of 1964 (and following) so as a matter of LAW what you suggest is happening legally in some states is actually illegal EVERYWHERE in the USA. So.. If you see it happening, I suggest you get a lawyer and contact the EEOC and the DOJ to report it.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
And should we deny marriage to a woman who is postmenopausal, or has had a hysterectomy?
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
sex lives of other executives... Ok, give me a break. Is this some pathetic attempt to make apple bashing seem like gay bashing? No one asked the question and no one thought more or less of Steve Jobs because of his rather tumultuous sex life. So I'd say stick your announcements to the product line unless, of course, you are trying to divert attention from your failing product line.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
I'm going to quote Odin Zeus McGaffer on this one: "After getting booted out of the garden, Adam and Eve sex it up and pump out 2 sons named Cain and Abel. Despite the odds, Cain and Abel manage to have kids as well... don't ask."
Help! I am a self-aware entity trapped in an abstract function!
You really don't get it. If i am Asian, and i reject an equally priced offer of a house in a predominantly black neighborhood and move closer to an Asian supermarket instead, i am not a racist.
We all have our freedoms, beliefs and choices, i don't step on yours, try not to step on mine.
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Not something to be proud of. Doesn't mean I think they should be persecuted. But accepting it to the point they get tax write offs is simply wrong in the opposite direction of what we usually condemn.
I don't believe they should be abused for their behavior, but it's also a mistake to encourage it. It's like my porn addiction, people accept me, but it's still a sin.
He was on the cover of Out Magazine as the number one most influential gay or lesbian in the United States.
So does that mean he was secretly the most influential gay guy before he came out? Seems a bit peculiar.
Just tell the kids to not decide to be gay at a young age. The problem is that people are telling them that they are born gay when that is not true.
Big woop de do to you for being proud to be gay, I'm proud to be a gamer. I think instead of fighting for equal government benefits for a guy couple, we need to edit the laws to change the automatic tax benefits for being married. Couple no longer automatically will have kids and need tax reduction. Saying "Marriage equality" is a misleading. 1. You don't need the government to tell people you are married, and the government can't stop you for saying your married. 2. Public recognized marriage is to claim to a mate so no other will bare offspring from them. For obvious reasons that dose not apply to gays since it is impossible to bare children short of a science baby.
Boil it all down, this is a fight over money. The hospital visit, and inheritance could have been solved with just having the government calling it a union, but gays were after money so they declined that.
Some people are proud to be smokers, proud to be killers, proud to be anything they like to do. At the end of the day, people like this is just looking for attention, since anyone can come out and say they are gay, guess it would be embarrassing if they change their mind later on though.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised by all the non-sequitur hate this comment is getting from anonymous cowards. I don't generally reply to comments, but the ones here are so hateful and stupid it seems worth putting a word in.
No one asked anyone to do gay porn, for the illiterate amongst you. No one was asked to make out with anyone. You're going to have to address what I wrote rather than your fevered imaginations to get any traction, I'm afraid.
We frequently do films that cast actors as psychopaths, murderers, clowns, and worse, and no one ever objects, so any suggestion that playing a gay person is exceptionally offensive against the morals of the actor requires that it be more morally repugnant for them to play a gay person than a murderer. That is... odd.
Seriously, in one film there were half a dozen murders on screen. No one objected. Yet someone objected when given the option to play a gay person. If you don't see a problem with that, you're kind of screwed up.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
In fact, Jesus didn't redefine sin; he redefined the punishment for sin because he was to bear that punishment himself on behalf and in place of mankind.
He sort of did, in fact. It's the new covenant vs. the old. Most (not all) people hold that wearing polyester is no longer a sin, for example. Most use http://biblia.com/bible/niv/He... (Hebrews 8:13) as the proof. Then again, one is free to cherry pick the bible as one pleases.
Just because the U.S. is a republic does not mean it is not a democracy. Democracy/republic are not mutually exclusive.
Isn't he that little gray man running Apple or some such? The only one that could make being gay sound even more boring than being straight? Not that our country shouldn't be moving in the direction where it really is just as boring, but good God... C'mon, Tim, just admit it - you're so fucking boring, no one cares!
That is all.
Despite the fact this is actually true, I wonder whether it may serve as a marketing trick. I guess gay people (with high purchasing power) already felt much attracted by Apple's design, so could this be - partly - another blink to this market?
...and put their penis in your butt. Why does the world need to know?
Did I claim to be tolerant? That seems rather unlikely.
These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them."
So I should let someone with questionable personal hygiene tell me what makes me "dirty"?
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Your 99 cent theology sucks. Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh and as such, he was the one who created man and woman as part of the created order. Therefore, the OT stated exactly how strongly God felt about homosexuality and Jesus never redefined that.
So Jesus was also okay with slavey, incest, killing of infidels, and human sacrifices?
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
I always knew people at Apple were a little fruity.
Nope. The form of "slavery" that was prevalent at the time was a form of indentured servanthood when you got indebted to someone, and the master had obligations toward the slave according to the law; it wasn't a one-sided affair. Once the debt was repaid the master was obligated to release the slave. It's very different from the slavery we're used to hearing about. Incest of all forms is specifically prohibited in Leviticus. Human sacrifices are specifically condemned as a practice of pagans all throughout the Old Testament. The killing of infidels was a form of judgement that was no longer in effect as part of the reconciliation Jesus was responsible for.
You bring up those topical objections that are typical of those who don't study the scriptures but don't hold up to detailed study with proper context. It's understandable.
"Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder."
So did the Ten Commandments go away? What happened to them? Paul warned that the new covenant of grace was not to make allowances for sin.
The covenant was not pertaining to the definition of sin, but the judgement of Sin and violation of laws and the disposition of God towards mankind's sin. If you study the points in scripture when covenants are made they address what God does for man and what man is to do in response. Not what is, or isn't allowed or forbidden. Covenants usually go something like "If you obey my decrees, I will..." etc. The decrees are predetermined before the covenant is to come into effect. You can see many examples of covenants in the Pentateuch.
"Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder."
When you ask people who study the scripture they mostly say that the patriarchal focus of the scripture and the culture would have omitted female children. That does't mean they didn't exist.
"Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder."
You mean how my cousin and her wife did? (One donated the egg, the other was the host mother, so it wasn't a case of one partner having a kid and the other tagging along.) Then why did they have problems getting married? Why did they have to make sure they had the baby in a certain state to establish both as the parents?
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Ever have a legitimate complaint that you were discriminated against in employment because you're in a protected class? I was flat-out asked my birth date once after being assured that I was getting a job, and then did not get the job. It's hard to prove something like that, particularly when you're told that you're not quite working out as opposed to "we don't hire your kind".
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
So the CEO of Firefox got fired for voting a certain way (I honestly don't remember the specifics, only that it had to deal with his vote on an sexuality issue), but the CEO of Apple is applauded for taking a stand on the other side of the issue in a way he believes is right. Is the only difference the public's opinion of whether the guy is a bigot or a hero? Or is there more to it than that?
Firing somebody for being of a particular religion is illegal in most cases. Firing somebody for other lifestyle reasons (such as, say, liking to play wargames with miniature figures), isn't, at least in an "at-will" state.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
I thought that the reason it spread fast is that it's easier to get HIV from a man than a woman. The real danger was promiscuity, but a promiscuous population of gays was going to have it spread a lot faster than one of lesbians.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
I get my Christian theology from a couple of people who have studied hard in an Episcopal seminary, thank you very much. (One is now a rector, meaning a priest in charge of a parish.) That cost them a lot more than ninety-nine cents. They think you're full of it.
You're conflating adultery and prostitution (which my friends are against) with homosexuality, which is positively stupid, and assuming that a reference to "unnatural relations" necessarily has to include homosexuality as a matter of theology.
If you're going to refer to the Old Testament, read Leviticus sometime. Do you eat pork products or shellfish? Do you wear clothing with mixed fabrics? Are you up to date with all your livestock sacrifices? Approximately nobody takes Leviticus seriously any more, except to cherry-pick the verses they like. (Even so, whoever was writing Leviticus was not condemning hot girl-on-girl action.)
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
If nobody actually cared, why did we get that well-funded campaign to amend the Minnesota constitution in 2012? I hadn't noticed all those ultra-religious and hate groups previously.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
And I'm not even going to go any further in this - you've already discredited yourself.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
The real danger still is promiscuity. That and not using condoms.
That was the reason why it spread like wildfire among the gays in the beginning. And it is the reason why it spreads like crazy in Africa. And whereas I can understand the reason in the first case (not knowing that you have to protect against something) I can't understand it in the second case (knowing that you can get and spread it but relying on quackery and the imaginary friend in the sky to protect you).
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Would it be okay to ask her to play a black woman, wearing makeup (and clothes)?
While the reaction described by radtea does smack of bigotry, I don't think it's bigotry in general to turn down a role you don't feel comfortable playing or don't believe you could play properly. While I'm no actor, if someone asked me to play an outgoing playboy (of any orientation) I would refuse the part because it's so counter to my own personality that I wouldn't be able to do a good job.
If a big name came out to admit "yes, the talk is true. I'm gay, but it DOESN'T MATTER! I've got a business to run!!" Who cares were he takes it or where he puts it?! Apple is big business and what that jerk does or prefers to look at is almost meaningless.
Are we almost done with "gay pride"?!