Tim Cook Tells the World 'I'm Proud to Be Gay' | WIRED

Contents:

• WHY I'M NOT PROUD OF BEG GAY
• TIM COOK TELLS THE WORLD 'I'M PROUD TO BE GAY'
• I AM GAY, AND I AM PROUD
• APPLE'S TIM COOK: 'SO LET ME BE CLEAR: I'M PROUD TO BE GAY'
• I'M PROUD TO BE GAY, BUT I'M TIRED OF COMG OUT TO STRANGERS
• THE MOST HEARTBREAKG B OF TIM COOK'S 'I'M PROUD TO BE GAY' ESSAY IS HIS LACK OF PRIVACY
• PROUD TO BE GAY AND PROUD TO BE WHE
• APPLE CEO TIM COOK: 'I'M PROUD TO BE GAY'
• TIM COOK: 'I'M PROUD TO BE GAY'
• APPLE CEO TIM COOK COM OUT PUBLICLY POWERFUL ESSAY: “I’M PROUD TO BE GAY”
• APPLE’S TIM COOK SAYS THAT HE IS ‘PROUD TO BE GAY’

WHY I'M NOT PROUD OF BEG GAY

I’m spired to engage this lguistic activy bee the annual "Pri Week" for gays and lbians is soon at hand, and I’m particularly terted knowg what is, exactly, that I’m supposed to be proud the followg two OED fns, for example, pri is portrayed as beg herently antisocial, a very, very bad thg: pri n.

Now, if embracg "gay pri" were done simply for the slap--the-face-to-relign effect, I’d be all for .

Yet unfortunately—and to my ntued bewilrment—there are many gay people who are relig, so this acunt don’t seem to hold much water. It’s not terribly surprisg, this light, that dividuals who are more prone to exhibg hubristic pri tend also to be more disagreeable, nrotic, narcissistic, are ls nscient and have a history of poor relatnships and mental health when to the exprsn "gay pri, " hubristic pri don’t seem to be implied. I’ve no doubt that some gays and lbians probably do believe, for some odd postmornist reason or another, that they are herently superr to straights.

TIM COOK TELLS THE WORLD 'I'M PROUD TO BE GAY'

But gay or straight, anyone who actually believ that social stat n be lculated on the basis of what their genals unnscly rpond to should be dismissed jt as swiftly as those who believe that God has a sore spot for pri. In any event, for the most part, hubristic pri appears to be the emotnal anthis of the feelgs meant to spire gay dividuals durg Pri Week. I wonr, then, if perhaps there’s another OED fn that better reflects the te spir of "gay pri.

So "gay pri" unr the guise of thentic pri seems jt as problematic to me as do for hubristic pri. Eher we elect to see ourselv as beg "born this way" and not of our own makg, which would lim our sense of pri to the hubristic subtype ("I’m better than you bee I’m gay"), or we mt subm to the tellectually impaired among and ntend that we’ve chosen this “liftyle” for some mendable reason.

I’m no more proud of beg gay than I am of beg Csian, of havg type I diabet, of beg 5'7"—okay, heels—or of havg abnormally stocky hands for a man my size. Like beg gay, the are simply the unassailable, blogilly-based facts about me, and what is, is.

I AM GAY, AND I AM PROUD

But, and here’s the real kicker, so listen up, the absence of pri is not is, alas, at least one OED fn that perhaps reflects the tend age of the exprsn "gay pri" and that seems to ronate wh s nnotatns. I n almost get on board wh this variatn of the term when ’s applied to "gay pri"—I know my gay history, Pri Week’s nnectns to the Stonewall Rts of June, 1969, I know my value as a human beg, and I’ve also had a genero slice of antigay bigotry directed at me—right at my forehead, fact.

APPLE'S TIM COOK: 'SO LET ME BE CLEAR: I'M PROUD TO BE GAY'

) I suppose the only problem that I have wh this form of "gay pri"—and ’s substantially ls of a ncern than the other two forms, I should add—is rts on the assumptn of a largely mythil, llective gay inty.

In my everyday life, and unls you brg up, beg gay is about as salient to my self-ncept as is my havg brown hair or drivg a Honda; I don’t feel—wa for the gasps—a particular affy wh other gay people jt bee they’re gay.

I might want to have sex wh other gay men, sure.

I'M PROUD TO BE GAY, BUT I'M TIRED OF COMG OUT TO STRANGERS

But anythg else, well, there jt simply aren’t any shared psychologil tras that brg together some trsic the one hand, I unrstand the need for fg supportive allianc wh other gays and lbians, for exertg change through llaborative, anized effort and by sheer strength numbers. Our very need to even have "gay pri, " to celebrate "Pri Week" through ma street paras ftooned wh drag queens, leather daddi, and dyk on bik, is such a pathetic reflectn of what we thk we should and shouldn’t be proud of as human begs that I’m aaid I jt n’t mter up the requise "gay pri" to feel this, I’ll be on the sil watchg the floats and all the pretty boys go by, marvelg and salivatg at the lurid excs that vigorate the very same stereotyp that we spend the rt of the year fightg agast.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken a major step toward breakg what many ll "the glass closet, " openly admtg a new personal say that he's "proud to be gay.

THE MOST HEARTBREAKG B OF TIM COOK'S 'I'M PROUD TO BE GAY' ESSAY IS HIS LACK OF PRIVACY

"So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I nsir beg gay among the greatt gifts God has given me, " Cook public acknowledgement mak Cook the first openly gay CEO on the Fortune 500 list.

"So if hearg that the CEO of Apple is gay n help someone stgglg to e to terms wh who he or she is, or brg fort to anyone who feels alone, or spire people to sist on their equaly, then ’s worth the tra-off wh my own privacy.

PROUD TO BE GAY AND PROUD TO BE WHE

"Cook has been wily reported to be gay for some time now.

Earlier this year, Out magaze named Cook one of the most powerful gay men Ameri.

This summer, Cook marched San Francis's gay pri para. And jt this week, he lled on Alabama lears to protect the rights of lbian, gay, transgenr, and bisexual people his home 's cisn to now speak publicly about his sexualy---difficult as he says was---is a strong signal to other gay bs lears that they have nothg to hi.

APPLE CEO TIM COOK: 'I'M PROUD TO BE GAY'

In fact, Cook wr, beg a gay man has given him many of the skills he needs to be an effective lear. "At the same time, Cook urg other members of the bs muny not to fe gay lears by their sexualy.

I Am Gay, And I Am Proud. LOG IN WITH FACEBOOKHome›Polics and Activism›I Am Gay, And I Am Proud›People always ask me, “How did you know you were gay? At first, by somethg si of them, there is that ial ia of, "Yeah, I thk I’m gay.

TIM COOK: 'I'M PROUD TO BE GAY'

I was the first gay person I’d ever I me towards the end of high school and to llege, my homosexualy beme evably evint. Even now, I know my heart that I’m strictly Team Ladi; I'll never be pable to feel that kd of love for a of this realizatn happened when I was seventeen, and I knew that there was no nyg : I am as gay as they first, was hard to accept and was sry to tell my fay.

I love that I am gay bee ’s a part of who I am.

I love the same way that everyone else lov, whether they are heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or any other sexualy. "I'm proud to be gay.

APPLE CEO TIM COOK COM OUT PUBLICLY POWERFUL ESSAY: “I’M PROUD TO BE GAY”

I nsir beg gay among the greatt gifts God has given me, " Cook said an 800-word say posted on Bloomberg Bsweek.

"Beg gay has given me a eper unrstandg of what means to be the mory and provid a wdow to the challeng that people other mory groups al wh every day. "Plenty of lleagu at Apple know I'm gay, and don't seem to make a difference the way they treat me, " Cook wrote.

APPLE’S TIM COOK SAYS THAT HE IS ‘PROUD TO BE GAY’

So if hearg that the CEO of Apple is gay n help someone stgglg to e to terms wh who he or she is, or brg fort to anyone who feels alone, or spire people to sist on their equaly, then 's worth the tra-off wh my own privacy.