Apple having equality for its employees is good, but it's also a bit like a university that has a cherished honor code. Neither is difficult to implement, neither has much influence outside the institution, and both are self-engrandizing. Of course a university can create an enclaved system without relativism and in which rules can be black and white. It's blindly conceited though, as no one can exist in this world with 100% purity or honor. The very money the school takes isn't snowy white. It's the same with Apple. Most of the people who work for Apple are not employed by Apple. So to say that Apple has equality for its employees isn't even saying much. They have good values in place that benefit people who are already extremely fortunate and in the highest echelons among the world. And just as the honor code example exists within an enclave, Apple cannot maintain this purity when it works with the outside world. It works in a cut-throat business world and works with brutal governments around the world. Yes, everything is fair and equal for Apple employees. That's not hard to do.
I'd be more interested if he didn't say something so predictable. Income inequality is a greater issue than non-discrimination policies are for wealthy engineers. It's not that you should wait to do the latter before fixing the former. It's that fixing the latter is easy, and already done at Apple. It should make Apple a more competitive company against its competitors.
I'm sure he has personal reasons for his convictions and I do for mine as well. I have every reason to believe I was fired as an Apple contractor because of a disability I have. Because I was a contractor and not employee, Apple did not have to pay minimum wage, did not pay its share of Social Security tax, I had to pay for my own training (which came from Apple), etc. Apple treated me in every respect as an employee, and it made damn sure that its customers were under the impression I was an employee. I would have lost my job to say otherwise. Apple could fire me without giving a stated reason. There is no law in my state that an employer must give a reason for termination, and Apple didn't give one.
So, how would an employee of Apple's ever even know if they were fired for being gay? I called every number I could find at Apple to try to find out why I was fired. And I finally reached the person who knew. I introduced myself and his reply was, "I am not at liberty to discuss that information." He hung up the phone before I could respond.
Apple is a company that does what it wants to do. If part of that is having a certain culture of equanimity within its corporate employees, then it does that. But Apple fights being beholden to the spirit of the law and to the law at all. You see this with its financial practices, including Steve Jobs backdating stock options or funneling its money through Ireland.
Again, it's not that I disagree with Tim Cook. It's that he thinks he's done something great when he hasn't, or that he at the least wants other people to think so.
