Apple CEO Tim Cook is gay.
This was a known fact inside Apple, and speculation has pervaded the media for some time now. Cook had not publicly acknowledged his sexuality until his op-ed piece advocating for human rights and equality appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek on Oct. 30.
While Cook’s decision to come out publicly has been applauded by most, a common criticism is that it’s not a big deal that he’s gay, that being gay is not news in a society as advanced as ours.
But it is a big deal.
Tim Cook is the only openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company. For a list that is predominantly male, white and apparently straight, this is big news.
Cook is already a role model to youth around the world. The fact that he is openly gay only makes him more of a role model, especially for LGBT youth wishing to enter a field like STEM or business but who fear there is no place for them.
Thanks to people like him, there is a place for them.
He’s also opening the door for other CEOs, executives and senior-level managers to come out publicly.
When people see that LGBT individuals are running Fortune 500 companies, it makes them more likely to accept the gay couple that lives next door or the lesbian they work with.
One of the principal reasons LGBT people have not been accepted historically is that they aren’t represented like other groups are. The same goes for other minority groups. Representation brings enlightenment and tolerance.
It is the responsibility of all GLBT individuals in the public eye to come out publicly, to embrace their identities. But this is especially true of those like Cook that serve as role models for so many.
How can you be a role model if you’re not being yourself? You can’t. This is blatantly lying to all those who look up to you.
Honesty is the most important virtue. It is true that one must first be honest with him or herself before he or she can be honest with others. But in the quest for true honesty, it is essential that these be in symbiosis.
Cook has achieved this symbiosis with his ?announcement. It is apparent that his honesty with himself and his honesty with others is in sync, rendering him an ideal role model.
Harvey Milk was potentially the first openly LGBT public figure to accomplish this 40 years ago. His authenticity made it possible for those like Tim Cook, Michael Sam and others to be true to themselves and true to others like they are today.
If Milk purportedly set off the gay rights movement as we know it, it’s people like Cook who keep it alive.
But he cannot keep it alive on his own.
It’s up to all of us, not just the ones of us who identify as LGBT, to help keep it alive, to aid in its permeation throughout the world.
It’s up to us to be true.
