OMG!! Apple CEO says: 'I'm Proud To Be Gay'

Apple CEO Tim Cook today broke his silence to announce
that, yes, he is gay.
"While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven't publicly
acknowledged it either, until now," he said in an editorial
penned for Bloomberg Businessweek. "So let me be clear:
I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the
greatest gifts God has given me."
A private man running one of the most scrutinized
companies on the globe, Cook cited Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., who once 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 realize that my desire for personal privacy has been
holding me back from doing something more important,"
Cook wrote.
"I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much
I've benefited from the sacrifice of others," he continued.
"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 said his Apple colleagues have long known about his
sexuality, "and it doesn't seem to make a difference in the
way they treat me." But he acknowledged that Apple is "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 his essay, Cook noted that a lot has changed in his
lifetime, most notably the growing acceptance of marriage
equality. Still, certain states allow employers to fire people,
or landlords to evict tenants, based solely on their sexual
orientation, he said, so there's more work to be done.
Those same topics peppered Cook's acceptance speech
during his induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor
this week: He challenged his home state to do more to
protect the rights of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) community.
Though Cook does not consider himself an activist, Apple
has voiced its support for a workplace equality bill in
Congress and marriage equality in California, and spoke up
when Arizona passed a discriminatory bill targeting the gay
community, Cook said.