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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).
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.
Valleywag, Jan. 2011: Meet Apple's New Boss, The Most Powerful Gay Man in Silicon Valley
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.
On the one hand, yes. Who cares? But we're not the target audience then are we. The fact that so many of us say *yawn* when folks like this come out means we have moved beyond caring, and that's great really. Folks shouldn't think twice about it, but as a society we're not there yet, and maybe it will matter just a little to someone struggling or just figuring things out.
Would posting a message like that make you look homophobic?
Yeah, let's totally just ignore the history behind the use of the word 'pride' in this context. It'll totally make us look smart, edgy, and witty.
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?
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."
Possibly proud means "not ashamed" in this context.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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...
The idea of "gay pride" isn't a statement of "this is how I am", it's about taking a stand against oppression. People are routinely killed in the United States due solely to their sexual orientation. Killed. Do you fucking hear me? KILLED. And the US being one of the safest places in the world to be gay! You're a lot worse off if you're in Russia, Africa, eastern Europe, many parts of India, pretty much all of Central America, the Phillipines, etc.etc., and publicly came out.
Do people get routinely killed (or are denied access to their sick partner in a hospital, or tax breaks, etc.) for being 5'10 or being a good programmer? Emphatically no. So sit your ass down and keep your "being proud of being gay is the same as being proud of being 5'10" nonsense to yourself.
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."
Because lots of people don't share your ludicrously stupid idea of what marriage is.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So tolerant...
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.
No, liberals did.
Beat you with a crowbar? And rammed your car for being a straight white male? And this was done by liberals?
I seriously doubt it.
Or more accurately, even if you were beaten with a crowbar by "liberals" it was probably nothing to do with you being white/straight/male/middleclass and everything to with you being an asshole.
And your final sentence is indicative of just the oppression I've been first to suffer for being born this way.
I'm white/straight/middleclass/male too... but I'm left handed -- lucky for me right? I must be the only thing that keeps me safe from the liberal crowbar beatings.
as a cisgender (god I hate that this term even exists), middle class, right handed, white male I've suffered more bigotry and intolerance over the last 20 years than any homosexual...and from the exact people who's stake-in-claim in politics is purpotedly omnitolerance.
Speaking as a straight white middle class right-handed male, I think I can state with authority that you're completely full of shit.
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
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.