Apple CEO Tim Cook Talks Equality and Coming Out: ‘I Did It for a Greater Purpose’

June 14, 2018 Queer Forty Staff 1 min read

In a wide-ranging interview (below) with Bloomberg’s David Rubenstein, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about if he’d ever consider running for president, his recent meeting with Trump, Apple’s products and succeeding founder Steve Jobs, as well as the issues of privacy and equality, including his own coming out.

Said Cook:

“Many of the problems of the world come down to the lack of equality. It’s the fact that it’s the kid who is born in one ZIP code doesn’t have a good education because he happens to be born in that ZIP code. It’s someone who is maybe in the LGBT community who is fired because of that. It’s someone who has a different religion than the majority and are therefore ostracized in some way. If one day you could wave a wand and everybody would treat each other with dignity and respect, there are many, many problems that would go away with that.”

“I (decided to come out) for a greater purpose. I realized there were a lot of kids out there that were not being treated very well—including in their own families. Kids need someone to say ‘oh, they did okay in life, and they’re gay, so it must not be a life sentence in some kind of way.’ We’re getting these notes… it would tug on my heart even more, and it got to the point, and it got to the point where I thought, I’m making the wrong call, by trying to do something that is comfortable for me, which is to stay private. I needed to do something for the greater good.”