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Tim Cook Speaks Up

businessweek.com

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Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#161

Post by singletonaccnt »

s_q_b wrote: post #9

While everyone already knew, the act of public announcement is one of great meaning and catharsis. Coming out is an important event for a gay person, and for a prominent person such as Tim Cook, for our society as well. As an ally, congratulations for having the courage to be who you are.

Coming out is an important event for any minority -- at least in the cases where the membership of the minority can be (or has to be) kept a secret. Not being able to tell anyone your true feelings can feel like an enormous burden, driving some people even to the point of suicide.

And like you say, it takes courage to be who you really are. To not feel the weight of your mask every day. For myself, I think it would be false courage in this day and age to 'come out' as a pedophile. 'Pedophile' here means that I feel emotionally and sexually attracted to children, just as gays have that attraction to men. A lot of people are immediately repulsed by that word, and just assume you are a monster and a child abuser/rapist. I think those stereotypes mainly exist because pedophiles are invisible in our society. It is very likely that everybody knows somebody with that orientation, but because it is so risky to 'come out' nobody recognizes that pedophiles are very regular people too.

I have come out to some very close friends and my parents, who luckily all accepted that I am who I am (I live in a European country, so that might help). I'm a bit gay as well, and I have a 5+ year relationship with my boyfriend, who also is a pedo (and somewhat more gay than I am).

Still, every time when I receive a compliment or encouragement from someone, a thought flashes through my mind: what if they knew who I 'really' am?

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#162

Post by jeremysmyth »

mokkol wrote: post #63
super_mario wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God himself. Read your bible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_homosexuality

That is not the bible god wrote. That is a book written by people. And written far later than the year 0.

There is no year 0.

Also, presuming you meant "2014 years ago" (the most sensible interpretation of "year 0"), it's pretty universally accepted that the old testament that we know best was written hundreds of years before then.

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#163

Post by zoba »

Congrats to Tim! I've been waiting for this for a while. I've wondered though if he will have any problems traveling to foreign countries now. I don't know how much he travels, but, Russia has some bad anti-gay propaganda laws so there's at least one semi-important country to avoid.

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#164

Post by thathonkey »

oracuk wrote: post #137
aikah wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hmm ,i guess he is talking about Alan Turing who was literaly sentenced to a horrible treatment for being gay. That's one of the greatest shame of UK,it symbolizes bigotery in its purest form.

It was one of our (many) great failings and as a nation we have accepted that: Prime Ministers Apology: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/11/pm-apology-to-a... Royal Pardon: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10536246/Al...

Well, at least there's that.

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#166

Post by easytiger »

nandemo wrote: post #131
bobcostas55 wrote: post #112

>I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me. Americans are so weird.

What does that have to do with being American? Do you realize the majority of the world's population believes in $deity?

being part of a tradition doesn't imply belief or participation.

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#167

Post by atonse »

eloisant wrote: post #33
rjtavares wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would value a CEO's sexuality at 6 billion dollars. I sincerely hope that has nothing to do with this news.

Well, shareholders may fear that some conservative consumers will want to boycott Apple because of that announce. Not completely illogical. Or they think that other shareholders will think that and lead to a drop in the share value.

Apple, among other tech companies, has been championing gay rights pretty publicly for a few years now. Also they've had quite a stance on renewable energy and rebuffed investors that were climate-change deniers.

I think the type of people that would boycott Apple over this, have already boycotted apple over the other things.

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#168

Post by codeoclock »

gergles wrote: post #157
nailer wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't share Eich's views, but he's 58 - the cultural concepts that made it difficult for Tim Cook to be public about his sexuality may be the same thing that makes Eich against gay marriage. Edit: I can't comment due to rate limits, but a poster below hasn't read what I wrote above and is suggesting I am saying the men grew up in different times. I am suggesting the exact opposite: they grew up in the SAME period/c…

Tim Cook is 53. Are you suggesting there's some sort of swell change that occurred in 5 years?

Tim Cook is 53 and gay. Eich is 58 and straight. Very different backgrounds.

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#169

Post by kelvin0 »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #110
coldtea wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll first have to pass from the stage were announcement like this are not that courageous (sure might annoy some BS far right minority who nobody cares about), and are actually the in vogue thing to say for kudos and hi-fives. Which I think is were we are now. The people who really had the guts, "came out" when it really mattered and made a difference, back in the seventies and eighties.

That's a pretty offensive accusation. Like Cook points out, the US is still country in which gay people are subject to life-altering discrimination all the time. Most other countries are even worse. I suspect you're overestimating how accepted homosexuality is outside of your bubble.

How is that offensive? Clearly homosexuality is much closer to being mainstream as 20-30 or 50 years ago. TV Shows and movies and music trends all make it much more acceptable in the mainstream. All he is saying is that it was much more difficult for people back then to come out, much more than today. That being said, there is clearly some distance to go until it becomes egalitarian. That's how I interpreted the comment. Some people could also use that 'coming out' nowadays to gain some type of social sympathy to their advantage, which was not the case 50 years ago where they would have been ostracized or even killed...

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#170

Post by tallanvor »

yitchelle wrote: post #124
downandout wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There are undoubtedly many people who will no longer purchase Apple products because of this I disagree. First, I think it was widely assumed that he was gay, and if it wasn't, he was accidentally outed during a live TV broadcast a few months ago by a CNBC reporter [1]. Second, the people that think this way probably already avoid Apple products, as both Tim Cook and Apple have been vocal on gay rights for quite som…

It is interesting to read this. Not that I have any evidence, but I was under the impression that Apple was already more attractive to the gay community than the other companies...I would not be surprise if this will increase this section of their target market.

Apple, Google, and Microsoft all rank very high as inclusive companies, along with many of the big tech companies. When it comes to buying phones and other gadgets, from my circle of friends, the gay community is pretty much aligned with the general population in terms of the mix of choices. While we're happy to see a CEO be openly gay, it's not going to change our buying habits.

I guess I could be wrong, but I know I certainly won't to exchange my Xperia Z3 for an iPhone just because Cook came out.

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