Apple's CEO encourages US house to pass sexual orientation non discrimination act

[aGameOfThrones]

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook took to Twitter on Friday to again express his support for the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, a proposed bill that would make it illegal for companies to discriminate in hiring based on gender identity or sexual orientation.




The act, dubbed ENDA, has been presented to Congress since 1994, but has yet to pass into law. Cook said on Friday that he believes the U.S. House of Representatives should mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, signed into law by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, by finally passing ENDA after 20 years.

Tagged in Cook's post were Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, and Democratic Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer.

In a separate post, Cook quoted the iconic protest song of the American Civil Rights Movement, "We Shall Overcome." He also shared a picture of Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act while Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. looked on.

"Reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act," Cook wrote. "Much done but much left to do."

Cook's support of ENDA has been well publicized before, as the CEO penned an editorial in The Wall Street Journal last November urging U.S. senators to pass the act -- which it did, in a 64 to 32 vote. The bill has not yet gone up for a vote in the House.

ENDA would prohibit most employers from discriminating in hiring based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition to official passage through the U.S. Senate, the bill has also been given public support by President Barack Obama.



http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/178198/apples-tim-cook-encourages-us-house-to-pass-sexual-orientation-nondiscrimination-act

[roho76]

This guy is a loose cannon and needs to be fired. His public views are very divisive and unnecessary. First global warming. Now this? What an idiot. and if the board of directors doesn't do something they would be just as dumb.

[tod evans]

How about repealing the civil rights act?

50 years of failure is enough...

[GunnyFreedom]

Good heavens is Apple trying to suicide? :( Board, fire this clown. He's using Apple Inc as a bully pulpit for petty politics, and it's bad for the Apple brand.

[LibForestPaul]

Why do the elites push this so much?

a.Sociopaths?
b.Odd deviant sexual behavior of elites?
c.Faux left/right paradigm?
d.All of the above?

I believe C. But would not discount others.

[Tywysog Cymru]

Why do the elites push this so much?

To invent a new Civil Rights issue so that the people forget about the real abuses of civil rights.

[RabbitMan]

What do we have against this again?

[GunnyFreedom]

What do we have against this again?

What do we have against endlessly adding to the already voluminous scope of federal code and register, the creation and addition of an ever increasing array of special class humans with special class rights?

What could we possibly have against that?

Ohh, I might need to sit and think about that one for a while...

[mad cow]

What do we have against endlessly adding to the already voluminous scope of federal code and register, the creation and addition of an ever increasing array of special class humans with special class rights?

What could we possibly have against that?

Ohh, I might need to sit and think about that one for a while...

Really.It would be simpler at this point to just say it is illegal to discriminate against anybody except healthy,straight white males under the age of 65 and save on the paperwork.

[RPforPrez.]

This guy is a loose cannon and needs to be fired. His public views are very divisive and unnecessary. First global warming. Now this? What an idiot. and if the board of directors doesn't do something they would be just as dumb.

As long as he doesn't use the resources of Apple to push his agenda without the approval of the board, I do not see a problem with what he is doing. Right now, I believe we all sound very much like the leftists who opposed the Mozilla CEO only a week ago upon realizing that he supported Prop 8.

What is the difference between what Cook is doing now and what Eich did? They both expressed support for a cause outside of their business.

Yes, Cook may currently be CEO of one of the largest companies in the world, but that should not hinder him from expressing his views, for he is not expressing them as the views of Apple Corporation.

I feel as though the only problem with what Cook is doing is that we have opposing views on the matter, and we're ignoring many of the arguments that we ourselves used only a week ago.

[GunnyFreedom]

As long as he doesn't use the resources of Apple to push his agenda without the approval of the board, I do not see a problem with what he is doing. Right now, I believe we all sound very much like the leftists who opposed the Mozilla CEO only a week ago upon realizing that he supported Prop 8.

Really, criticizing a guy for making poor business decisions and damaging his own brand, is equal to calling a nationwide boycott of a well established internet company because of a private donation by an officer? LOL.


What is the difference between what Cook is doing now and what Eich did? They both expressed support for a cause outside of their business.

Yeah, if you have been paying attention, this is part of a larger overall pattern, and he totally tied the global warming thing to Apple, Inc. He is a liability because he does drag Apple into his politics, and from his history he does it intentionally. Eich, on the other hand, did not drag Mozilla into his politics, nobody would ever have known about Mozilla and Eich's donations without going back and researching dusty old federal records.


Yes, Cook may currently be CEO of one of the largest companies in the world, but that should not hinder him from expressing his views, for he is not expressing them as the views of Apple Corporation.

So because once or twice he manages not to drag Apple Inc into his lunacy, then we should ignore all the rest of the times when he does?


I feel as though the only problem with what Cook is doing is that we have opposing views on the matter, and we're ignoring many of the arguments that we ourselves used only a week ago.

You are entitled to feel that way, sure enough, even though it really doesn't describe reality. If Cook and Eich's positions were reversed, then I would be defending Cook and calling Eich out. It's not the position but the integrity, and the active conflation of his politics with the politics of the corporation he chairs. THAT IS DANGEROUS, COMMERCIALLY. Investors invest in a company to make money, not to make political statements. If your CEO is too byst carrying the corporate torch for his latest cause, then he will not be responsive and innovative in the market, and he will layer in additional liability by connecting the corporation with divisive political subjects.

As an officer of a corporation, what Cook is doing is madness. It is 1000-fold worse than Eich, and yet nobody here is demanding a boycott. Imagine that...

Perhaps the preconceptions and misperceptions are a little closer to home than you think?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Man, you people are all a bunch of homophobes. Everybody knows that 90% of the population is 90% homosexual.

[roho76]

As long as he doesn't use the resources of Apple to push his agenda without the approval of the board, I do not see a problem with what he is doing. Right now, I believe we all sound very much like the leftists who opposed the Mozilla CEO only a week ago upon realizing that he supported Prop 8.

What is the difference between what Cook is doing now and what Eich did? They both expressed support for a cause outside of their business.

Yes, Cook may currently be CEO of one of the largest companies in the world, but that should not hinder him from expressing his views, for he is not expressing them as the views of Apple Corporation.

I feel as though the only problem with what Cook is doing is that we have opposing views on the matter, and we're ignoring many of the arguments that we ourselves used only a week ago.

I can't really disagree with anything you're saying. With that being said, I would fire his ass. When your in a position like this you can't separate your "public" persona from that of your "personal" persona. Especially when you go running your mouth through the same media outlets that your products are advertised on. There is nothing illegal about what he is doing as far as being a publicly traded company but I guess that's up to the stock holders and consumers to figure out. All I know is that these subjects are divisive and no doubt will turn off a big demographic of the market.

Plus, I'm pretty sure that Cook recently told the world that if they don't believe in global warming, don' buy our stuff/stock. Comments like that, if I resided on the board, would be a one way ticket to my shit list.