Quantcast
Channel: AMERICAblog Newsceo – AMERICAblog News
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

Apple CEO Tim Cook: “I’m proud to be gay”

0
0

Apple CEO Tim Cook came out today as a gay man in an article in Bloomberg Businessweek.

“While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now,” Cook wrote. “So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”

Good for him.

Cook, 53, has been criticized in the past by some who were upset that he refused to acknowledge what many already knew. But I’ve defended Cook for a few reasons.

1. He’s wasn’t harming anyone, and in fact was incredibly pro-gay as CEO of Apple

While, sure, I think that everyone should be out, I’m more tolerant of those who are not only not harming our community, but are actually helping it. If Cook were a closeted anti-gay Republican member of the US House, I’d have more issues with his previous non-disclosure.

2. It’s not easy coming out, regardless of how easy it is for those you come out to

Tim Cook, Apple COO, in january 2009, after Macworld Expo keynote. Picture by Valery Marchive (LeMagIT).

Tim Cook, Apple COO, in january 2009, after Macworld Expo keynote. Picture by Valery Marchive (LeMagIT).

I remember, when I came out to friend at the ripe old age of 27, one of them told me, “why did you wait so long, you know I was okay with it.” And I told her, “but I wasn’t okay with it.”

Coming out isn’t simply the act of coming to terms with other people’s demons, it’s coming to terms with our own as well. Whether or not you are okay with my being gay, in order to come out I have to be okay with whatever you think of me. And that means, to a large degree, I have to not only be mature enough to not care what you think, but I also have to be prepared for the potentially negative consequences — career- and family- wise.

And while Cook won’t suffer in his career, who knows about his family situation. He’s from Alabama — not known to be the most welcoming place on earth for the other.

3. Age matters

I think, but can’t prove, that it’s easier for someone, say 33 years old, to come out, as compared to someone who’s 53. At our age (I’m a tad younger than Cook, but close enough) you were likely raised “knowing” that you would never get married, never fall in love; and that everyone else like you, save you, was a pervert. That’s not easy baggage to ever get over.

It also didn’t help that some (a lot) of your friends were dying before their 30th birthday.

I think it’s different today for many, but not all, young gays. They’re growing up in a world where in many places, outside of San Francisco and Fire Island, it’s normal to be gay, abnormal to be a hater, and expected that some day they’ll get married to someone of the same sex.

Oh, and their friends aren’t dropping like flies. And while AIDS did wonders for forcing people out of the closet, it also helped reinforce a different sort of closet. One of fear. Fear for yourself, fear for your friends. Fear of sex and intimacy. Again, that’s not an easy thing to get over, ever.

So while I’ve been wanting Tim Cook to come out for a while, I never had a particular beef with his lack of coming out. I get how hard it is. I get how personal the journey is. And in the end, so long as Cook wasn’t voting against our civil rights in Congress, while regularly cavorting bare-chested with hot young men in his Instagram account, I just couldn’t get that peeved about his decision to remain quiet.

I am, however, quite pleased now.

Here’s the end of Cook’s piece in Businessweek:

When I arrive in my office each morning, I’m greeted by framed photos of Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. I don’t pretend that writing this puts me in their league. All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I’m doing my part, however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick.

Damn.

The post Apple CEO Tim Cook: “I’m proud to be gay” appeared first on AMERICAblog News.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images