Is he gay? Tim Cook won’t say

Late last week, Apple’s Tim Cook was seen sporting a Pride shirt with his employees, as a mark of solidarity during San Francisco’s annual LGBT Pride Celebration and Parade. For those who follow these things, it’s not uncommon for tech CEOs to attend and show support.

However, Cook’s presence was a big deal as the CEO’s sexuality had recently been an awkwardly debated topic of conversation on CNBC. During a discussion about the lack of high-profile gay executives, a CNBC host said, Apple CEO Tim Cook was “openly gay”. The claim was met with silence. Hobbs then said, “Oh, dear, was that an error? I thought he was open about it. I'm not going to out anybody.” There has been a lot of chatter about Cook’s sexuality.

Gossip site Valleywag has said that Cook is gay since 2011. Gay magazine Out has included Cook in its power list. The New York Times wrote the following in a big profile of Cook: He often quotes Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy but doesn’t much talk about the origin of his political views. The speech he gave last December, in which Mr. Cook mentioned the cross-burning, started to give some hints. “Since these early days,” he said, “I have seen, and I have experienced, many other types of discrimination.” All of those, he continued, “were rooted in a fear of people that were different than the majority.” Apple declined to say what he meant by the discrimination he experienced.