In his new biography, Steve Jobs says
his first gay friend set him straight on sexual orientation.
Gay blog Towleroad
has posted bits of the just-published Jobs biography by Walter
Isaacson.
Jobs was already gravely ill when he
asked Isaacson to write his biography, simply titled Steve Jobs.
The man who would go on to co-found
tech giant Apple with Steve Wozniak discussed being shunned by
coworkers while working for video game console maker Atari. An
arrogant Jobs believed his vegan diet eliminated the need for daily
bathing.
“Not all of his coworkers shunned
Jobs,” wrote Isaacson. “He became friends with Ron Wayne, a
draftsman at Atari, who had earlier started a company that built slot
machines.”
“Ron was an amazing guy,” said
Jobs, who considered starting a business with Wayne.
“One weekend Jobs was visiting Wayne
at his apartment, engaged as they often did in philosophical
discussions, when Wayne said that there was something he needed to
tell him.”
“Yeah, I think I know what it is,”
Jobs replied. “I think you like men.”
When Jobs asked Wayne how he felt about
beautiful women, Wayne replied: “It's like when you look at a
beautiful horse. You can appreciate it, but you don't want to sleep
with it. You appreciate beauty for what it is.”
Jobs later recalled: “It was my first
encounter with someone who I knew was gay. He planted the right
perspective of it for me.”
In April, Apple's newest CEO, Tim Cook,
was named America's
most influential gay person by gay glossy Out.