Tim Cook finally unveils the worst-kept secret in Silicon Valley, in the pages of Bloomberg Businessweek. To be honest, it didn’t seem like it would be a big deal. This has to be one of the most gay-friendly places on Earth, and the man whose intensity is the stuff of legend never gave the impression that his orientation was relevant – because who can picture him having time for any kind of relationship other than the Auburn Tigers? But he said it, and sounded much like Anderson Cooper when he did: everyone knows, everyone’s known, it’s not a big deal, but I need to say it for the sake of other people who might need the help or the inspiration or the comfort of knowing it’s not just me.
And that’s not nothing. In fact, that’s huge, in perspective. Because the worst thing you can be growing up in exurban Alabama is different. Gay, black, foreign, or just smart – if you have anything that keeps you from being just like everybody else, you’re going to be on the outside looking in. The closest thing I ever had to being a minority was that four-year undergrad stint where I wasn’t in a fraternity, and it drove home the point that as a minority, it’s not the active prejudice that does for you as much as the ignorance of your existence. The assumption that difference doesn’t exist – it’s that third Goventa level of power, the dismissal of anything that the dominant power doesn’t wish to acknowledge.
Well, this is going to be hard to dodge. Possibly the richest, most powerful living Alabamian – and Auburn alum – is gay, and doesn’t care if you know, and thinks his home state should work harder on not being assholes to gay people. The cognitive dissonance alone might be enough to power the state for a year or two. (Although it REALLY makes you wonder what would happen if Nick Saban delivered and supported an openly gay Heisman-caliber quarterback who came through with a national title.)
Good for Tim. He didn’t have to, but he knows the meaning of non nobis solum. And if some kid in Alabama feels less alone and more empowered – or if somebody in the old country rethinks their beliefs as a result – he’s done more than any amount of boosting AAPL stock.