This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/30/apple-chief-tim-cook-proud-to-be-gay

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Tim Cook: 'I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me' Tim Cook: 'I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me'
(about 5 hours later)
Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, has officially come out as gay and described his sexuality as “among the greatest gifts God has given me.” Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, has publicly come out as gay and described his sexuality as “among the greatest gifts God has given me”.
Cook, who had previously never denied being gay but neither had he publicly acknowledged his sexuality, wrote about being gay in an opinion article for Bloomberg. “I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,” the boss of the world’s largest company said on Thursday. “For years, I’ve been open with many people about my sexual orientation. Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I’m gay, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way they treat me,” he said. Of course, I’ve had the good fortune to work at a company that loves creativity and innovation and knows it can only flourish when you embrace people’s differences. Not everyone is so lucky.” Cook, 53, who became the boss of Apple in August 2011 shortly before founder Steve Jobs died after a long battle against pancreatic cancer, said: “While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.” Out magazine listed him on its 2013 “power list”, while tech blog Valleywag castigated the New York Times for erasing Cook when it wrote in May that “there is not a single openly gay chief executive at the nation’s 1,000 biggest companies.” Until today, Cook had also never confirmed that he is a gay man, to the extent that a CNBC anchor caused a minor fracas in June when he described Cook as “fairly open about the fact that he’s gay”. Cook, who had previously not acknowledged nor denied his sexuality, becomes by far the most influential gay business executive as head of the world’s most valuable company.
Cook, who has worked at Apple since 1998, said he had not previously opened up about his sexuality in an effort to try and maintain a level of privacy while running one of the world’s most scrutinised companies. “Throughout my professional life, I’ve tried to maintain a basic level of privacy. I come from humble roots, and I don’t seek to draw attention to myself,” he said. “Apple is already one of the most closely watched companies in the world, and I like keeping the focus on our products and the incredible things our customers achieve with them. “At the same time, I believe deeply in the words of Dr Martin Luther King, who said: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ” I often challenge myself with that question, and I’ve come to realise that my desire for personal privacy has been holding me back from doing something more important. That’s what has led me to today.” Cook said being gay had been “tough and uncomfortable at times” but also made him “more empathetic, which has led to a richer life” and given him “the confidence to be myself, to follow my own path, and to rise above adversity and bigotry”. “It’s also given me the skin of a rhinoceros, which comes in handy when you’re the CEO of Apple.” “While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,” Cook, 53, said in an opinion article for Bloomberg Businessweek.
While the essay is the first place Cook has publicly confirmed his sexuality, it’s not the first time he’s taken a stance against discrimination against LGBT people. In June, he tweeted his support for the White House’s decision to ban LGBT discrimination at federal contractors, calling it “a matter of basic human dignity”. And in February, he congratulated the football coach of the university he went to for saying he would be fine with a gay player on the team. “For years, I’ve been open with many people about my sexual orientation. Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I’m gay, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way they treat me. Of course, I’ve had the good fortune to work at a company that loves creativity and innovation and knows it can only flourish when you embrace people’s differences. Not everyone is so lucky.”
In the Bloomberg article, Cook said the world had changed considerably for gay people since he was a child, but more needs to be done to create a fair and more equal society. “There 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 said he does not consider himself a gay rights activist, but he realised how much he has benefited from the sacrifices of equal rights activists in the past. “I’ll admit that this wasn’t an easy choice. Privacy remains important to me, and I’d like to hold on to a small amount of it,” he said. “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.” Other high-profile business figures who have discussed their homosexuality more openly in recent years include the former BP boss Lord Browne, who has now written a book about homosexuality within the business world. Cook, who became the boss of Apple in August 2011 shortly before founder Steve Jobs died from pancreatic cancer, said he had not previously opened up about his sexuality in an effort to maintain his privacy while running one of the world’s most scrutinised companies.
Suki Sandhu, chief executive of OUTstanding, a not-for-profit professional network for LGBT executives, said: “This is amazing news. There is no stronger diversity message to send than the CEO of the world’s most valuable company saying it makes sense to be open and authentic about who you are in the workplace. Coming hot on the heels of the appointment of Christopher Bailey as the first openly gay CEO of a FTSE 100 company, it shows that attitudes are changing. His sexuality had long been known in Silicon Valley, and elsewhere, but he had chosen not to publicly address the issue. Cook was named the most powerful gay person by Out magazine in 2013, and attended Silicon Valley’s gay pride this summer. He was also accidentally outed by a CNBC TV anchor during a discussion on the lack of gay business people in the US.
“But the fact remains that Cook and Bailey are in a tiny minority. When conservative estimates put the percentage of UK adults who are lesbian,g ay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) at 6%, it seems crazy that so few business leaders are open about their sexuality.” Cook becomes the only openly gay chief executive among the top 1,000 companies in the US, according to the New York Times.
Britain’s most high profile openly gay executive is Christopher Bailey, the boss of Burberry, who is married to actor Simon Woods.
Other openly gay business executives include the NBC chairman, Robert Greenblatt, the UK chief executive of HSBC Bank, Antonio Simoes, and hedge fund manager, Peter Thiel.
Lord Browne, who resigned as BP chief executive in 2007 after lying in court in an attempt to prevent publication of ­stories about his sexuality and private life, said Cook’s coming out would “accelerate change in the corporate world”.
“I hope that Tim Cook has set an example which other leaders will follow,” Browne, who has become an outspoke campaigner for gay rights, wrote in the Guardian. “If there are more openly gay CEOs and senior leaders in business, it will give other people the confidence to come out, and to be themselves at work. That is good not just for them as individuals, but also for their employers, which will benefit from greater employee engagement and productivity.”
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest LGBT civil rights group, said Cook’s announcement would “save countless lives”.
He added: “He has always been a role model, but today millions across the globe will draw inspiration from a different aspect of his life. Tim Cook is proof that LGBT young people can dream as big as their minds will allow them to, whether they want to be doctors, a US senator, or even CEO of the world’s biggest brand.”
Cook has long been a vocal supporter of gay rights and spoken out against discrimination of minorities. This week he attacked his home state of Alabama for being too slow to guarantee gay rights. “Under the law, citizens of Alabama can still be fired based on their sexual orientation,” Cook said. “We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it and we can create a different future.”
In June, he tweeted his support for the White House’s decision to ban LGBT discrimination at federal contractors, calling it “a matter of basic human dignity”. And in February, he congratulated the coach of his hometown college football team for saying he would be fine with a gay player on the team.
“Throughout my professional life, I’ve tried to maintain a basic level of privacy. I come from humble roots, and I don’t seek to draw attention to myself,” Cook said in the Bloomberg Businessweek article. “Apple is already one of the most closely watched companies in the world, and I like keeping the focus on our products and the incredible things our customers achieve with them.
“At the same time, I believe deeply in the words of Dr Martin Luther King, who said: ‘Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for ­others?’ I often challenge myself with that question, and I’ve come to realise that my desire for personal privacy has been holding me back from doing something more important. That’s what has led me to today.”
Cook said being gay had been “tough and uncomfortable at times” but also made him “more empathetic, which has led to a richer life” and given him “the confidence to be myself, to follow my own path, and to rise above adversity and bigotry”. He added: “It’s also given me the skin of a rhinoceros, which comes in handy when you’re the CEO of Apple.”
Cook said the world had changed considerably for gay people since he was a child, but more needed to be done to create a fair and more equal society.
“There 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 said he does not consider himself a gay rights activist, but he realised how much he has benefited from the sacrifices of equal rights activists in the past.
“I’ll admit that this wasn’t an easy choice. Privacy remains important to me, and I’d like to hold on to a small amount of it,’ he said. “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.”
• Apple’s Tim Cook isn’t the only gay person in the IT village• Apple’s Tim Cook isn’t the only gay person in the IT village