Tim is gay
Excellent news this week. Apple CEO Tim Cook has come out of the closet, admitting to one and all that he is gay.
Horrifying news for all bigots out there who own Apple phones, pods and pads. Now they have to choose between throwing their gadgets in the bins and standing by their 'principles,' or continuing to patronize Apple, thereby subsidizing the immoral lifestyle of its CEO as well as all of its debauched employees who continue taking money from this spawn from hell.
OMG. What will governments where homosexuality is criminalized do? Will Nigeria ban Apple products from entering the country? Will Singapore strip all Apple computers from government offices and replace them with less problematic brands? Will Saudi Arabia arrest citizens touching Iphones for carrying around the products of sin in their bare hands, so suitable for contaminating other innocents?
Ah well. Tough. There are far too many things more important than worrying about the backlash from the enemy. And that was obviously what Apple's highest executive had in mind when he made public his long rumored sexual inclinations.
Tim Cook says in his essay in Bloomberg Businessweek that he is "proud to be gay" and that he considers "being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me." (I am sure the Roman Catholic bishops are now pointing to a different God as the god that Tim is referring to. Maybe the god of libation? Sheesh - their god doesn't do gay too well).
Tim also says that coming out allows him to know that he is doing his part, "however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path towards justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick."
Yes. Justice is more important. Keeping silent would have let all the oppressors and prejudiced bigots continue with their relentless viciousness, allowing them to shame, discriminate, injure and even kill those with preferences other than theirs. (Case in point: the tirade against Jennifer Laude, murdered transgender, whom some netizens have murdered again with their inability to look beyond her transgendered status).
Tim Cook therefore represents a potent symbol, proof positive, that gay people can be leaders. They can succeed in the corporate world, indeed, even in the biggest brand in the whole world. They can be at the top of their profession. For the youth, he will symbolize hope. He is their future.
For those in the corporate world, it means co-employees can be more accepting of their gay colleagues. The awareness that they bring strengths and talents to the table, and that gay people are not necessarily disqualified or less desirable just because they are gay. Respect.
It will mean there is less room for the position employers sometimes take that gay employees should be fired, just because they are gay. Therefore, gay employees cannot be discriminated against, just because.
As Cook says "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."
This obviously doesn't come easy for the chief. Having stood up, he has made himself a target. Vulnerable to attack from the same people who will slag an innocent bystander, subject to the same potshots and low blows. He might even hurt the very brand he is tasked to market the world over.
But the CEO has looked at the landscape, and like all decisions he has made as a CEO, weighed all the options, considered all the risks, and called the shot. He has come out.
And we now applaud.
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