LGBTQ+ Celebrities: Tim Cook

Tim Cook is a gay American business executive who is the current chief executive officer of Apple Inc.

After graduating from Auburn University In 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in industrial engineering, Tim spent 12 years in IBM's personal computer business as director of North American fulfillment. During this time, he also earned his MBA from Duke University, becoming a Fuqua Scholar in 1988. Later, he was the chief operating officer of the computer reseller division of Intelligent Electronics. Then in 1998, Steve Jobs asked Tim to join Apple as a senior vice president for worldwide operations.

Since 2005 his group has invested in long-term deals such as advance investment in flash memory. This guaranteed a stable supply of what became the iPod Nano, then the iPhone and iPad. In January 2007, Tim was promoted to lead operations and was chief executive in 2009, while Steve Jobs, in failing health, was away on a leave of absence. He offered a portion of his liver to Steve, as they shared a rare blood type and Steve responded by yelling, "I'll never let you do that. I'll never do that."

In January 2011, Apple's board of directors approved a third medical leave of absence requested by Steve. During that time, Tim was responsible for most of Apple's day-to-day operations, while Steve made most major decisions. On August 24, 2011, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO and became chairman of the board, and Tim Cook was named the new chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Six weeks later, on October 5, 2011, Steve died due to complications from pancreatic cancer.

In May 2013 Tim shared that his leadership focused on people, strategy, and execution; he explained, "If you get those three right the world is a great place." Under his leadership, Apple increased its donations to charity, and in 2013 he hired Lisa Jackson, formerly the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to assist Apple with the development of its renewable energy activities. Then on February 28, 2014, Tim made headlines when he challenged shareholders to "get out of the stock" if they did not share the company's views on sustainability and climate change.

Later that year, in June 2014, he attended San Francisco's gay pride parade along with a delegation of Apple staff. On October 30, 2014, Tim publicly came out as gay in an editorial for Bloomberg Business, saying, "I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me."

Two years later in May 2016, he traveled to China to meet with government officials after the Chinese government closed Apple's online iTunes Store and Apple Books store which led to him signing a $275 billion deal with Chinese officials in the same year. The deal unfortunately paved the way for increased censorship by Apple in China. A few examples of this censorship were the removal of Muslim content, preventing users from entering numbers that refer to the date of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, censoring Chinese words like "human rights" or "democracy", and manipulating Apple Maps to support China in the Senkaku Islands dispute by making Chinese-claimed islands appear larger than they actually were. Tim was also a speaker at the World Internet Conference in China in December 2017

In 2019 several lawmakers criticized him over Apple's decision to remove an app used by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong from its App Store. They accused Apple of censorship, and co-signed a letter to him that read, "Apple's decisions last week to accommodate the Chinese government by taking down HKMaps is deeply concerning. We urge you in the strongest terms to reverse course, to demonstrate that Apple puts values above market access, and to stand with the brave men and women fighting for basic rights and dignity in Hong Kong."

Then towards the end of 2019, in October, Tim remarked on his business success by saying it was thanks to LGBTQ people who had fought for their rights before him that paved the way for his success, and that he needed to let younger generations know that he saw being gay as a feature his life had to offer rather than any problem. Tim hoped his openness with his sexuality could help LGBTQ youth dealing with homelessness and suicide by giving them hope that their situation could get better.