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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."
He should be more concerned with what he does with his Apple than what he does with his banana.
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).
Valleywag, Jan. 2011: Meet Apple's New Boss, The Most Powerful Gay Man in Silicon Valley
Millions of young people faced with sexual discrimination every day of their lives. "It gets better" isn't just a slogan for Tim.
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.
Congrats, your gay.
My gay?
Circumcision is child abuse.
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.
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.
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.
You can grouse if you want, but the fact is that the whole "proud" strategy has gotten them pretty damn far. Eventually it will be anachronistic, but it's been pretty successful to date. It wasn't so long ago that it was socially acceptable to beat the holy hell of them, and now most states recognize their marriage. Amazing.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
In an enlightened, equal world, people who say things like "I'm proud to be gay" as if an accident of birth was something of note would get the exactly same reaction as people who say things like "I'm proud to be white" or "I'm proud to be male".
I'm pretty sure we're not quite there yet.
Log in or piss off.
When people say you're disgusting, deviant, abnormal, strange, and wrong to be gay (or a member of whatever discriminated against group), you can either hunch your shoulders, cringe, and take it or say, "Fuck you! I'm not ashamed to be who I am--I'm proud of it!"
When someone says, "Any fool can see
Says the guy who's plainly never been part of a despised minority treated as second-class citizens simply because of how you were born.
Well. I say that and then remember that some black folks old enough to remember Jim Crow still think that it's OK to treat gays like second-class citizens, because religion.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
He's saying he's "proud" rather than "ashamed" -- because unfortunately, many people still think that being gay is something to be ashamed of. They believe that being gay is somehow a sign of moral failing as opposed to what it is: a normal human characteristic.
"Gay Pride" parades are about that very idea, and have been for decades. When you see someone wearing a shirt on St. Patrick's Day that says, "Proud to be Irish", do you assume they're claiming superiority to you in some way? Of course not. It's the same thing.
Clearly you do care, or you wouldn't have bothered to post. Unfortunately, all you did with your post is attempt to frame his use of the word "proud" in an incorrect and unflattering light. I'm not sure why that was so important to you.
To me, it's still amazing that a person can declare their *hatred* for certain religions or ethnicities and many people will feel that it's socially acceptable, but declaring your *love* for another adult can still have serious social and financial repercussions. So in my book he's doing something brave, and that's something to be proud of too.
Koans and fables for the software engineer
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.
I don't see why it should be a reason to be "proud". Gay is the way he is rather than something he has chosen but it does not confer some form of superiority on him. If he was a paedeophile though, that definitely *would* be a reason to be "unproud".
Whatever, see if I care.
Well you do seem to care enough to make a point about not caring.
You also manage to put the words 'gay' and 'paedeophile' close together in your comment, which is a glib and common association make by people who at best, are ill-informed. There are so many things one could be 'not proud of' and you picked one likely to cause offense to gay men..
For me, 'gay pride' is a reaction to the predudices of others. I was told, as a kid, I should be ashamed of myself for being gay. I was physically intimidated and attacked, because the physical, sexual love I wanted to experience was different to most. I was bullied at school. My parents were fearful of stigma which would be attached to them for having a gay child. I felt noone I knew approved of me and I was ashamed.
My 'gay pride' comes from mostly getting through all that and becoming a successful human being, and for helping others by campaigning and lobbying for change to make life better for similar poeple. Standing up and saying something helps other people overcome their fears. Tim Cook, is heard around the world, in Kenya, perhaps, where recent regressive laws are resulting in violence and murder of gay men.
-R