‘Being gay is God’s greatest gift’: Apple CEO Tim Cook opens up about coming out
The CEO who took over from Steve Jobs after he passed away revealed why he decided to come out
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Tim Cook says being gay is “God’s greatest gift”.
Apple’s CEO publicly came out back in 2014 and during an interview with CNN, Cook revealed why he decided to come out after receiving letters from children who were being bullied and close to suicide.
In the interview, Cook said coming out allowed him to have empathy towards those who are in a minority.
He said: “My strong view is that everyone should be treated with respect… I became public because I started to receive letters from kids who read online that I was gay and they were going through being bullied, being pushed out of their homes, very close to suicide, things that really just pulled my heart and I started thinking I’m a private person and I’ve kept me to my small circle and I started thinking that is a selfish thing to do.
“I need to be bigger than that, I need to do something for them and show them that you can be gay and still go on and do some good jobs in life… to me, it’s God’s greatest gift because in doing so, I learnt what it was like to be a minority which gives you a feeling of empathy for other people who are not in the majority and you begin to look at life a bit differently.”