You don’t like my spelling? Move back to Canada, ya British Commie! 
Being gay is nothing to be ashamed of, but it’s nothing to be particularly proud of, either (just like any other attribute you were born with).
I expect he’s saying that it is an integral part of his identity, that he finds positive and enjoyable, and which he cannot imagine being without.
Exactly. Pride in the identity you were born with goes hand-in-hand with self-respect and resistance to oppression, for oneself and others.
The word “proud” sounds more powerful than “I openly admit to it and don’t care who knows it and feel no need to be embarrassed by it”. It’s a variant of the traditional definition of proud that evolved a bit, as languages do.
If you don’t understand how somebody thinks it’s newsworthy to feel this way about being gay, you grew up in a far more different time and place than Cook did (or I did or millions of other “proud” gays did).
The book is pretty much about how companies should not discriminate against gay employees and how setting up a corporate culture that accepts people regardless of their sexual orientation helps both businesses and their employees.
What does “equality” have to do with drilling for oil? If we feminize it until a five-year-old girl can do that means what?
You’re saying that gay men are feminine? That women can’t work in the oil industry?
If we make hard jobs suitable for little girls, then little girls is who will do the jobs. Equality!
What does that have to do with discrimination against qualified homosexuals?
Stay in the closet, you won’t be discriminated against. duh.
A gay tax is coming?
You can take some pride in how you handle adversity, social marginalization etc. We have all met plenty of people who let the experience define them, or how others perceive then define them, or it define how they see the majority. There are tons of trapdoors out there. If you manage to dance around them throughout your youth, and end up with the grace of Fred Astaire, that you can take a little pride in that. I fell through a couple of trapdoors myself, didn’t learn to dance all *that *well from the experience but I did better than many I know.
Well, equality doesn’t have anything to do with drilling for oil per se. But if you set up a work environment that doesn’t discriminate based on sexual orientation, for instance, and does things like give equal benefits to same sex couples, and sets up an environment where somebody doesn’t have to worry about being harassed because of their sexuality, then that attracts qualified people who might not otherwise apply for jobs there. (It also attracts customers…a gay customer might be more willing to buy from you rather than a competitor if he or she knows that your company is gay friendly.)
And, actually, Lord Browne’s book uses statistics and case studies to show that companies that embrace gay rights do better than those who don’t.
If you have an hour, here’s a lecture he gave on the topic, and then the questions he took:
Tim Cook was born gay. He wasn’t born CEO of Apple. One was a gift from God, the other was the result of years of hardwork.
what I find interesting is Tim Cook is pretty much everything Steve Jobs was not.
I loved the last two sentences (more added for context):
He’s trying to help an oppressed minority. As CEO of the country’s biggest corporation, he’s kind of an 800 lb. gorilla for the cause. He didn’t have to do that- good for him.
The only “advantage” I can see being gay is a man doesnt have a wife and kids to hold him down so to speak and he can more easily move around to different jobs.
But seriously, gays are about 3% of males and who would want to be in a position where one could only mate with 3% of your same gender? Best to go after the other 50% of humanity.
Why do a husband and kids hold someone down less than a wife and kids?