Former President Bill Clinton, money
guru Suze Orman and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have weighed in on
Apple CEO Tim Cook's coming out.
Cook's sexuality was an open secret.
But his acknowledgment on Thursday that he's gay and “proud”
makes him the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
(Related: Tim
Cook: Being gay “among the greatest gifts God has given me.”)
“From one son of the South and sports
fanatic to another, my hat's off to you @Tim_cook,” Clinton tweeted
on Thursday.
Appearing
on CNN, Orman, who came out in 2007, said that Cook's coming out
will help others in corporate America struggling with their
sexuality.
“It was a big step for him because it
was the one thing he was not hiding but that he felt like he needed
to do, at least according to what he wrote, to help all those who may
need a little bit encouraging to say, 'It's okay, look, you can do
anything you want and still be gay,'” Orman said.
In sharing Cook's essay in a Facebook
post, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's co-founder and chief executive,
wrote: “Thank you Tim for showing what it means to be a real,
courageous and authentic leader.”