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Apple CEO urged to come out as gay

Cook leading recently designated world’s most valuable company

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Apple CEO Tim Cook (photo by Valerie Marchive)

LGBT advocates are urging the new head of Apple, Inc., to make his sexual orientation public amid media reports asserting that he’s gay.

Tim Cook last week became CEO of the $337 billion company — which weeks ago overtook Exxon-Mobile Corp. to become the world’s most valuable business — after former CEO Steve Jobs resigned from his position.

MORE IN THE BLADE: JOBS, KAMENY HELPED US ‘THINK DIFFERENT’

Justin Nelson, president of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said Cook’s act of coming out would help increase what he called the dramatic underrepresentation of openly LGBT people as leaders in the business world.

“What an enormous thing it would be to have an openly LGBT person leading not only a Fortune 500, but a Fortune 50 company,” Nelson said. “There’s severe underrepresentation of LGBT people on boards of directors of Fortune 500 companies, and I think this would send a very serious message that LGBT people should be at that table, they should be in those board rooms.”

If Cook came out as gay, Nelson said the act could encourage senior executives at other businesses to come out as well and allow for the consideration of more openly LGBT people for board positions at Fortune 500 companies.

Nelson said he isn’t in favor of outing closeted LGBT individuals — other than those who actively work against LGBT equality — but noted Cook’s sexual orientation is apparently an “open secret” and predicted that “we probably will hear from him in the not too distant future on this particular issue.”

The main source of information about Cook’s sexual orientation is a report from Gawker in January citing anonymous sources asserting the new CEO identifies as gay.

“After Cook was profiled as a ‘lifelong bachelor’ and ‘intensely private’ elsewhere, we wondered if he might be gay,” Gawker reports. “We’ve since heard from two well-placed sources that this is indeed the case, and it sounds like Cook’s sexual orientation has been the topic of at least some discussion within the company.”

According to Gawker, one source was told Apple executives would support Cook if he publicly stated his sexual orientation — and even would encourage him to make it public as he takes leadership of the company — but added concerns persist about whether Cook’s coming out would affect the perception of the Apple brand.

Apple, Inc., didn’t respond to the Washington Blade’s request for comment on the Gawker report or the sexual orientation of its new CEO.

Denis Dison, spokesperson for the Gay & Victory Fund, said a public declaration from Cook about his sexual orientation would have a positive impact on the larger LGBT community because it would encourage his straight colleagues and others to pay attention to LGBT issues.

“If he is gay and decides to come out and be leading a company that is as prestigious and large and powerful as Apple is, I think that is a net-plus for the LGBT community,” Dison said.

If Cook remained silent about his sexual orientation, Dison said he imagines the new CEO would continue to face pressure to come out as gay because of his public presence.

“There are those in the public eye who are said to be gay or known to be gay who don’t talk about it ever,” Dison said. “Whether or not that’s considered to be in the closet or just folks who don’t want to discuss it publicly, it doesn’t necessarily help the LGBT community or help their fellow LGBT Americans if they won’t talk openly and naturally about their lives.”

Cook has big shoes to fill after taking the reins of Apple from Jobs, who co-founded the company in 1985 at the age of 21. Jobs was later ousted by the board, but returned when the company was close to bankruptcy 12 years later and led the company to become the juggernaut it is today.

The first test for Cook will likely come with the debut of iPhone 5 — an update to Apple’s popular mobile phone — which is set to hit stores in the fall.

Apple, Inc., is known for being an LGBT friendly company — both in terms of its product appeal to the LGBT community as well as its treatment of LGBT workers. In its most recent Corporate Equality Index, the Human Rights Campaign awarded the company a perfect score of 100. Apple has non-discrimination protections for workers based on sexual orientation and gender identity and provides health benefits for LGBT workers in domestic partnerships.

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Federal Government

UPenn erases Lia Thomas’s records as part of settlement with White House

University agreed to ban trans women from women’s sports teams

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U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon (Screen capture: C-SPAN)

In a settlement with the Trump-Vance administration announced on Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania will ban transgender athletes from competing and erase swimming records set by transgender former student Lia Thomas.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the university in violation of Title IX, the federal rights law barring sex based discrimination in educational institutions, by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.”

The statement issued by University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson highlighted how the law’s interpretation was changed substantially under President Donald Trump’s second term.

“The Department of Education OCR investigated the participation of one transgender athlete on the women’s swimming team three years ago, during the 2021-2022 swim season,” he wrote. “At that time, Penn was in compliance with NCAA eligibility rules and Title IX as then interpreted.”

Jameson continued, “Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed in February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules.”

Writing that “we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules” in place while Thomas was allowed to compete, the university president added, “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”

“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the university for future generations of female athletes.”

Under former President Joe Biden, the department’s Office of Civil Rights sought to protect against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in education, bringing investigations and enforcement actions in cases where school officials might, for example, require trans students to use restrooms and facilities consistent with their birth sex or fail to respond to peer harassment over their gender identity.

Much of the legal reasoning behind the Biden-Harris administration’s positions extended from the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII rules covering employment practices.

The Trump-Vance administration last week put the state of California on notice that its trans athlete policies were, or once were, in violation of Title IX, which comes amid the ongoing battle with Maine over the same issue.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.

According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.

The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.

The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.

In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.

The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.

“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.

The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”

“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.

Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”

His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.

“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”

“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”

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