Tim Cook, Apple's Chief Executive, Says He Is 'Proud to Be Gay'

Timothy D. Cook, Apple 's chief executive, said he was 'proud to be gay' in an essay published early Thursday, becoming by far the most prominent executive of a public company to come out.

'Let me be clear: I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,' Mr. Cook wrote in the essay, published by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Mr. Cook, 53, has never spoken publicly about his sexual orientation in the many years he has worked in the spotlight at Apple.

In his essay, Mr. Cook also noted that he had spent much of his life trying to keep his personal matters private, which is why he had not previously spoken in public about his sexual orientation.

'Apple is already one of the most closely watched companies in the world,' he wrote, 'and I like keeping the focus on our products and the incredible things our customers achieve with them.'

But in private forums, he has alluded to facing difficulties growing up as a young man in Alabama, where he was raised for much of his childhood. He has said that human rights and dignity are values that need to be acted upon.

With his essay, Mr. Cook becomes the most high-profile gay man in the corporate world, joining a very short list of openly gay executives at public companies. He also defies corporate sexual identity norms; 83 percent of gay, lesbian and bisexual people hide aspects of their identity at work, according to a Deloitte report.

While Mr. Cook had not spoken personally previously about his sexuality, he noted that Apple had done much to advance human rights and marriage equality in its workplace, and had consistently enacted progressive policies to encourage gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender candidates to work for the company.

Apple has publicly supported a workplace equality bill in California, site of the company's headquarters, and spoke against a bill passed in Arizona which Apple said discriminated against the gay community.

Calls and emails to Apple representatives were not immediately returned on Thursday morning.

In the essay, Mr. Cook cited Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose framed photos are on his office wall, as his inspiration for publishing his essay on Thursday.

'I don't pretend that writing this puts me in their league,' he wrote. 'All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I'm doing my part, however small, to help others.'

'We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick,' he wrote.