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LGBT News Tim Cook Comes Out (Officially)

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by greatwhale, Oct 30, 2014.

  1. greatwhale

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  2. Molly1977

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    What a lovely report - thank you for posting.

    Molly x
     
  3. Cap’nSerious

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    ​That's good, I still hate apple though. Android :slight_smile:
     
  4. SemiCharmedLife

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    I thought he was out already haha. Still great news!
     
  5. Pipihpipih

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    Yeah I saw it here..its GREAT isnt it? One of the most genius
     
  6. Candace

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    Good for him! :grin: (!) (!) This was awesome to read about :slight_smile:
     
  7. Kasey

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    Preach!
    (On both accounts)
     
  8. Spartan 117

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    I read this today. It's nice that even though he's obviously a private person, he's decided to openly share this in order to inspire LGBT people out there. He didn't have to do that, and it's awesome that he did.
     
  9. Tightrope

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    I saw this via MSN Money this morning. He's forthright and seems to be very comfortable about it. I'm also glad he enumerates that there's more to him than his sexuality and that he still has a private side. In the snippet I read on MSN Money, it indicated that Out magazine put him on some list of powerful LGBT folks before this public statement was made. That made me wonder what "criteria" Out magazine used.

    I've never bought an Apple product, though. This doesn't change the fact that I've rarely considered them for their products.
     
  10. MintberryCrunch

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    I agree. He didn't have to do it, but I'm glad he did.

    Doesn't make me love Apple any more, though. #fanboy
     
  11. KyleD

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    I heard this on the BBC and I'm so happy he did.
     
  12. C06122014

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    I was watching GMA(good morning america) and it was simply amazing! It brought tears to my eyes :') becase he is simply a brave amd important member of the LGBT+ community i cant believe he is the first fortune 500 CEO to come out! Something like that haha :slight_smile: well he is still amazing! :slight_smile:

    Edit: wow⬇️⬇️⬇️
    "I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others…We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick."
    Again just wow!!! :slight_smile:
     
    #12 C06122014, Oct 30, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 30, 2014
  13. resu

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    Good for him and Apple!

    Sent from my Macbook Pro, lol
     
  14. Blossom85

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    I think that is awesome.. It is inspiring when people like him who don't really need to come out decide to. I love apple products anyway, but it wouldn't sway me one way or another with choosing to buy or not buy apple products.
     
  15. greatwhale

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    The last 2 paragraphs of his essay are remarkable, this is not just a coming out, it is a manifesto, and if he is serious about what he wrote, a call to arms to end the bigotry, both within and outside the US.

     
  16. AlexTheGrey

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    I saw this, and was happy to see him come out. This is a first, and just another step towards a more open society. And then saw a forum thread on a Mac site on this, and wanted to scream at people for claiming this is a marketing thing, and much worse.

    Tim's in an interesting position as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, in that he can speak out on this and show that things like this are normal. I kinda suspected with the big "It gets better" contribution from Apple a while back though.
     
  17. HuskyPup

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    I noted that Ted Cruz used the occasion to go on a "being gay is a choice" lecture...one wonders that if despite even major, mainstream, big businesses not having a problem with this, if the base of that party will ever abandon their anti-gay agenda. I tend to think not: even if marriage equality and basic rights pass, there will still be a group trying to fight against them, just as we still have many problems with racism.

    Could never afford Apple products, if I could get a good used computer from them for $250 or so, I would, but I never have the kinda cash they charge :frowning2:
     
  18. Tightrope

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    I think that this is what is most noteworthy about Tim Cook's announcement. It's a real counterpoint to the Andrew Tobias situation, who was in corporate America and came out much later. He did so in a book called "The Best Little Boy in the World" when he changed its pen name. I didn't read it, though I'd like to, but I know how it goes - the kid who did all the right things almost as if to overcompensate, went to Harvard twice over, worked for IBM and other big companies, and then, with coming out, writes books, does financial advising, political work, and other endeavors. The counterpoint is in the context, really. Cook works for Apple which was founded on broad thinking and put up with some eccentric antics along the way. It's also located in a liberal area. It's also 2014. Tobias finished Harvard in the '70s and went to highly starched IBM and employers like that, although the NY area is also liberal. For that matter, late NY major Ed Koch was asked about his sexual orientation point blank when interviewed by Barbara Walters and he deflected the question. I'm sure he was primed and expecting it, and I found the question to be sensationalistic and poor protocol. Tobias is a very virile looking guy with newscaster or corporate mogul looks so he kept it under wraps because he was probably able to do so. He came out much later when the tide turned. It seems that the same has happened in professional sports. Men and women came out after retiring. Now, you are seeing people come out while still playing. That's the change we are wanting to be the "new normal."

    While I think what he says is purposeful and packs punch, I see this proclamation about ending discrimination by Cook as being similar to the Pope's similar more popular and liberal stance. Cook's being a CEO will certainly make people take another look and lighten up. People and societies do tend to become more liberal over time. However, like the religious analogy, it will always depend on the micro-climate of who and what we're dealing with. Those laws have to go onto the states' books. Also, it will be a while before discriminatory practices end in red states than they will in blue states. I was stunned to see how many states do not, for example, have marital status as a protected class. Keep in mind that, short of sexual orientation discrimination, marital status discrimination can be a proxy for the same sort of discrimination. Perhaps some of the guys and women on EC have experienced it. Between 2000 and 2010, it cost me a job, and it was based on profiling and nothing more (unless I was micro-chipped), so seeing this kind of protection on the books is of interest to me. This happened in a fairly liberal state, too. The same is true of variances in religious thought - religiosity will be different in California than it will be in Mississippi. However, its being the law and on the books is not a cure all for the discrimination because of its localized handling in different places in the first world. I was once on vacation on the Gulf Coast and I struck up a conversation with a guy there who told me that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of being a banker in that small city if a person wasn't a married white male with a family, went to church, and belonged to the right organizations. This was within the last 10 years. I was angered by that (no thanks to being a banker,though) but I could also read that vibe from driving around.

    I think that, even though today's announcement is a step forward and a non-issue at Apple, other progressive employers, and governmental/public agency employers, there will always be migration to avoid discrimination. That is, people will move to different places, change companies, and make other adjustments to better accommodate their sexual orientation or whatever else it could be that would make them discriminated against.

    ---------- Post added 30th Oct 2014 at 07:08 PM ----------

    Ted Cruz is a major horse's ass.

    As for Apple products, I've never liked them. I've always looked to HP (where Carly Fiorina was the woman CEO in some turbulent times) for computers and to Motorala, LG, and Samsung for phones.
     
    #18 Tightrope, Oct 30, 2014
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2014
  19. stocking

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    Yay (!)

    Maybe I should come out the closet a bit more he inspires me , I'll move out the house first .:lol:
     
  20. Argentwing

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    Huh? Just now??? I thought it was old news already. Good for him anyway though hehe.