Tim Cook wrote an excellent essay for Business Week about being gay and the impact it has had on his life.

Being gay has given me a deeper understanding of what it means to be in the minority and provided a window into the challenges that people in other minority groups deal with every day. It’s made me more empathetic, which has led to a richer life. It’s been tough and uncomfortable at times, but it has given me the confidence to be myself, to follow my own path, and to rise above adversity and bigotry. It’s also given me the skin of a rhinoceros, which comes in handy when you’re the CEO of Apple.

I really like the tone of this essay. Tim goes out of the way to explain how he is not trying to be heroic but instead do his part. Over the past few years, a close friend of my family is a young gay man that I’ve watched face down prejudice and rejection with a dignity and honor that you wouldn’t expect of someone his age. People like Tim Cook writing things like this are making a difference.

∞