Apple CEO Tim Cook became the first publicly gay CEO in

Justin Kasser | Staff Repoter

On Oct. 30, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced he is gay. Through an op-ed in Bloomberg Business Magazine, he said, “I’m proud to be gay.” This came as a shock for some yet no surprise for others. In CNN Money, Cook said that it was not a secret, he just was not public about it. Cook becomes another renown figure that has come out publicly. He is currently the only publicly gay CEO in the largest 700 corporations, CNN Money reported.

“Many may argue that it shouldn’t matter that he is gay, while questioning who actually cares,” Roderick Mobley, an openly gay chemistry teacher at Menlo, said. “The truth is that it does matter and far too many people do care.” Mobley wrote to The Coat of Arms that he could see Cook had support from his company when announcing publicly his sexuality yet many other corporations don’t have the same stance. “[Sexuality] means a lot to gay people in corporations,” Mobley said. “They can’t get health care or company visas for their long-time partners, while also facing many social obstacles.”

In Cook’s announcement, he discussed one of the many reasons why he decided to make such a public announcement about his sexuality. “I have seen and have experienced many types of discrimination,” Cook said, “And all of them were rooted in the fear of people that were different than the majority.”