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Comment by colinramsay | Hacker News Reader

Strangely enough I'd see pictures of him at some gay pride thing and it never even occurred to me he might be gay. I think, more accurately, it didn't trigger anything in my brain that thought it mattered either way. Obviously this is the way it should be!

It seems like Tim Cook isn't under any pressure to publicly announce this, so it seems he's doing it as a way of leveraging his position to help others who are experiencing adversity. Some will say this is a stunt for Apple, and no doubt it does draw attention to Apple in a way, but I think you'd have to be pretty cynical to say that this is anything more nefarious than an admirable gesture.

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Felix Salmon outed it on the very day of Tim Cook's appointment as the CEO.

I'm surprised that a story that was on Techmeme at that time, did not get broader attention, until now.

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/08/25/dont-ignore...

It got a reasonable amount of attention, but I think a lot of journalists (correctly, IMO) felt that speculating on someone's sexuality where they hadn't talked about it publicly was a bit inappropriate.

True.

However there is the Nick Denton school of thought.

Denton ( of Gawker Media ) routinely shames public personalities for being clandestine about their sexuality.

The rationale for doing so is such that if no one calls them out, that the worldviews these public personalities profess never get the perspective, those views deserve. The backdrop of the person's sexuality and the influence it had on the shaping of those views is lost, Denton believes. [1]

[1] Gawker Kicks Open the Closet, but Its Disclosure Barely Reverberates

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/business/media/gawker-kick...

My impression was that Denton mostly does that with people who essentially work to oppress gay people (right-wing politicians, Fox journalists, and so on and so forth), and, yeah, I'm fine with that.

For people who aren't doing anything particularly wrong, though, especially those in positions where being openly gay is severely against the norm (as with Cook, who is, I believe, the first openly gay Fortune 500 CEO _ever_), it seems inappropriate. Say Cook had been outed back when he was COO; would he have become CEO? I'd like to say yes, but it would have been a brave move for the board.

Deciding that you can in fact out other people in some circumstances confirms that the enlightened claims of individual ownership of sexual identity are a political fiction. If it's deemed a person is "hypocritical" then you feel free to socially assign a label to that person's sexuality. "Outing" is only possible if society decides someone is "gay," not the person.

Yeah at first I though it was another stunt for Apple because seriously how is his sexual orientation is important? Then I though how actually we still need public figure like him, that there's still way too much people who doesn't want to accept other sexual orientations.

Let's hope that this will help many more people understands that there's nothing abnormal with having another sexual orientation.

>>> it didn't trigger anything in my brain that thought it mattered either way

This. It doesn't matter at all. Its great that people are embracing their sexuality, but there was no need to come out to the press about it. It doesn't change the way I see Apple as a company or even Tim Cook. He is still the same person before and after this article.

>> there was no need to come out to the press about it

Sure there was. Here's Cook on why it was worth caming out to the press about it:

"So 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."

It doesn't matter... depending on what social circles you're part of, and/or where you live. That's a crucial distinction.

I think it's very understandable to underestimate the degree of suffering involved, and how much this can be improved over time through publicly voiced support, especially when it comes from influential figures.

Many of us make this mistake in regards to women or ethnic minorities too. And those of us who are good looking do it to those who are less pretty, and those who us who have always been popular do this to the unpopular.

The best kind of empathy, I believe, concerns not just your feelings toward others, but also the context that these others are in.

It doesn't matter to you but it's mattered to others on HN and will likewise to others around the world. He explains why quite clearly in the article.

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