Apple CEO Tim Cook Says He’s ‘Proud to Be Gay’

Tim Cook’s Comments Make Him Most Prominent Openly Gay Executive

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook said Thursday that he was “proud to be gay,” a declaration that puts an openly gay man at the helm of the world’s most valuable company.

Rumored for years, the news surprised few who follow the company closely. But it was nonetheless a signal moment in a social and legal transformation that has cut across American life.

“If Tim Cook can be openly gay, then it just shouldn’t matter in any other corporation in America,” said Trevor Burgess, the openly gay CEO of the Florida bank C1 Financial Inc., which went public in August.

Acceptance of gays and lesbians in the U.S. has moved rapidly in the last decade. Same-sex marriage is now legal in more than 30 states after campaigns often backed by major corporations like Amazon . com Inc., and high-profile people in sports, entertainment and politics have come out in recent years.

Still, executives’ positions on social issues—and their personal lives—can have an impact on business. Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A, has spoken in support of traditional marriage and the company’s charitable arm has donated to groups opposing same-sex marriage. His stance sparked a backlash among some consumers, but it sent many others lining up at stores to support the executive and his views.

In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this year, Mr. Cathy said his candor harmed business, and said he wouldn’t speak out further—though, he added, his beliefs haven’t changed.

Openly gay executives are still rare, even as companies have ramped up their recruitment of employees who are gay or transgender, and have expanded benefits for same-sex spouses. Mr. Cook is believed to be the only openly gay CEO among the Fortune 500 list of top U.S. companies.

Mr. Cook, 53 years old, said he didn’t come out before because he strongly values his privacy, but decided to do so now because he felt it might help others.

“I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others,” he wrote in an essay in Bloomberg Businessweek. “So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.”

For a CEO of any major company, making a big personal statement is something boards must manage very carefully. Apple is very much at the whim of consumers, and the reaction among the company’s business partners abroad shouldn’t be easily dismissed. Though he said many Apple colleagues knew he was gay, Mr. Cook went to his board before publishing the essay.

Executives who are openly gay praised Mr. Cook’s decision to come out, but some cautioned that a flood of pronouncements from other CEOs is unlikely.

Whispers about Mr. Cook’s sexuality implied that it was something to be ashamed of, said Sam Altman, the president of the startup incubator Y Combinator. Going public “removes the shame and the message that [sexuality] needs to be hidden,” he said.

The effects may be felt most strongly among senior managers on track to take CEO roles in the coming years, said Kirk Snyder, a diversity consultant who works with Fortune 500 companies. “That path has now been cleared,” he said.

Ted Bililies, a CEO coach and managing director with business advisory firm AlixPartners LLP, said that executives should have a right to privacy but technology and social media has eroded it. Increasingly, executives are expected to share their private lives with the public, he said, a trend that could keep some from pursuing leadership roles.

“Executives need to understand that the bar has just been raised around personal disclosure and they better be prepared to disclose things they perhaps never would have in the past,” he said.

In 29 states people can still be fired for being gay, and more than half of LGBT workers hide their identities at work, according to a Human Rights Campaign report published earlier this year.

Former BP PLC chief John Browne was closeted during his time running the oil giant for fear the company would lose suppliers and customers or be viewed as weak by competitors or foreign governments. He was outed in 2007 amid revelations that he had lied in court about how he met his ex-boyfriend. He later wrote a book about life as a closeted CEO. Coming out is good for business, he argued, and staying closeted inhibits business leaders’ interactions with their teams.

Beth Brooke-Marciniak, the global vice chair for public policy at professional services firm EY, the parent company of Ernst & Young, called Mr. Cook’s announcement a “game-changer.”

She came out about three years ago with lots of help from a team of internal public relations staff and LGBT leaders who guided her through the process. “It’s not business as usual,” she said. “It does have to be managed.”

Mr. Cook, who joined Apple in 1998 and took on the CEO role after Steve Jobs stepped down in 2011, has been vocal about the importance of human rights and equality, at times speaking forcefully about the rights of gay individuals.

Earlier this year, Apple urged Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a bill that allows the state’s businesses to refuse service to gay customers on religious grounds.

Ben Schachter, an analyst with Macquarie Securities, said Mr. Cook’s announcement is unlikely to have a business impact on Apple, but other executives have acknowledged that speaking out may come with costs.

Speaking at a conference in 2012, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein said the bank lost at least one client after he spoke out in favor of gay marriage.

Younger gay executives now ascending the corporate ladder say their generation may simply make a natural transition to the C-suite without much friction or fanfare.

Mr. Burgess, the bank CEO, said he was open about his sexuality throughout his career, including 10 years as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

“There’s no need to come out,” he said. “I didn’t come out when I rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. I’ve been out since I was 19.”

Y Combinator’s Mr. Altman, who is 29 and has been out since high school, said the influence of Mr. Cook’s coming out will take years to realize as teenagers see his example and come out themselves.

“I hope it will make people realize, not just in tech, if the biggest company in the world can be run by a gay guy then it must be fine to be gay in business.” (Wall Street Journal)