Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of computer giant Apple outed himself Thursday, saying “I am proud to be gay.”

In Bloomberg Businessweek Cook wrote:

While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now.  So let me be clear:  I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.

That’s right.  Cook thanked God for his gay lifestyle. That’s smack in the face of religious fundamentalists who twist Biblical writings in a vain attempt to condemn homosexuality and claim it is a sin.

Cook is a religious man.  He is also gay.  That should send uptight butts squirming in some pulpits this weekend.

As a religious man who is straight but who also supports gay marriage and the right for anyone to choose and practice the sexuality they choose, I have long felt that the obsession that fundamentalists have in their condemnation of gays is both hypocritical and bigoted.  It is the practice of self-declared “men of God” and also of some women of God to use only portions of the Bible to support particular biases while dismissing other sections.  That hypocrisy earlier this year forced me to abandon my family’s long-time church.

My mother taught me that faith is both understanding and tolerant.  What I am hearing from too many ministers nowadays is more verbal diarrhea than spirituality.  In my opinion, what they claim misrepresents both the word and the spirit of real religion.

I know some strident anti-gay ministers who use iPhones.  Gotta wonder how many will now dump those symbols of homosexuality. 🙂

For the record, I’m a longtime user of Apple computers and iPhones.  Guess that means I was corrupted and led, by Tim Cook, down the path to gay acceptance. 🙂

Let me join him in thanking God for doing so.