I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me – Apple CEO, Tim Cook

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, who talked about his sexuality in a CNN interview stated that being gay “is God’s greatest gift to me.”

The Apple CEO made precisely the same declaration exactly four years ago, when he penned a ‘coming out’ article for Bloomberg Technology on October 30, 2014, saying:

So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.

Steering away from controversy, Cook avoided answering interviewer Christiane Amanpour’s question about the level of tolerance for gay people in his Silicon Valley-based industry. Amanpour said that Cook was “quite brave,” to come out as a CEO “especially in Silicon Valley,” indicating that the environment in the tech capital dominated by progressivism is perhaps toxic for gays.

“I’m very proud of it,” the Apple CEO was quoted as saying to Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday in an exclusive interview for her programme on CNN International and PBS.

Being gay is “God’s greatest gift to me”, he said. Cook said he chose to come out publicly after receiving letters from children who were “going through being bullied, being pushed out of their homes, very close to suicide”. .

“My strong view is that everyone should be treated with respect… I was public because I started to receive stories from kids who read online that I was gay,” he said

According to Tim Cook who acknowledged that he is a very private person, he was being “selfish” by keeping quiet about his identity when he could help people by coming out. He further maintained that coming out as gay has given him empathy towards those not in the majority, and has also helped him as a leader.

“I needed to do something for them,” Cook said. He wanted to demonstrate to gay children that they “can be gay and still go on and do some big jobs in life”

“I learned what it was like to be a minority,” Cook told CNN. “The feeling of being in a minority gives you a level of empathy for other people who are not in the majority.”

Here is a video of the interview;