Reminds me when Tim Cook came out as gay conveniently as all the investigations about Apple’s tax dodging were ramping up and rich successful gay white men in the media (*cough Chris Hughes cough) literally shut down stories on Apple’s tax dodging because of some bullshit malarkey about how it was attacking Tim Cook. I remember a bunch of bullshit about Tim Cook being “brave.”
Yeah, a rich white guy in charge of one of the world’s richest companies who definitely has his own private security, that’s real fucking brave. What a joke. Actual bravery is a gay kid in the deep South coming out in their 500 person hometown.
Shit, I knew a white kid from a town like that in Louisiana, and he wasn’t gay, just atheist, and some kids on the football team found out and beat the living shit out of him. His mom told him he asked for it for his beliefs. He filed for emancipation, applied for college, went to college at 16 and started double-majoring in molecular biology and botany. I hope he’s doing well.
Hughes’s eroding relationship with the staff took on an ideological edge. On the morning that Tim Cook, the C.E.O. of Apple, announced that he was gay, MacGillis wrote a note to “the Plank,” T.N.R.’s internal e-mail listserv for writers and editors. “I see the celebration of his announcement, while entirely justifiable, as another sign of what’s happened to liberalism today, where rights/identity liberalism trumps economic liberalism,” he wrote. “This is, after all, a guy who embodies so much of what’s amiss in the age of inequality—pulling down $378 million in 2011 alone; Apple skirting taxes more brazenly than anyone else—yet those revelations have caused barely a stir.”
Hughes responded to the note six minutes later: “I think those are valid issues, although Apple has acted squarely within the law,” he wrote. “The law itself is fucked up. But I don’t think you can underestimate the difficulty of his decision or how tone deaf that argument would be today.”
The other editorial employees on the list were surprised by the response. It was an internal listserv for writers and editors, and the staffers didn’t realize that Hughes, who had relinquished his title as editor-in-chief when he installed Vidra, was on it. MacGillis responded by saying that he would hold off on writing, but added, “Just for the record, though, it is not so clear that Apple acted squarely within the law. The law’s a mess, but Apple pushed the bounds of it more than anyone.” He pasted text from a piece in the Times that questioned some of Apple’s practices.
“I’m confused,” Hughes wrote back. “Has anyone, including this article, said what they did was illegal? Companies have an obligation to their shareholders to maximize shareholder value, including through strategic tax planning.”
Heartwarming: This billionaire con-artist who has swindled people into giving away digital autonomy, dodged taxes, uses inhumane labor overseas, and pretends to care about their end users is gay! ✨🌈
Agree with everything except the circumstances of Tim Cook’s “bravery”. He was outed on tv in a catty way, which generated a big bubble of support for him before he carefully opened the closet door.
Maybe where you’re at, but our pride was full of all colors of the rainbow and all walks of life. There were speeches from much older people talking about their joy when they were able to be married to their partner of several decades. There were people presenting from all over the gender spectrum. There were drag performers of all sizes and races and people who were just enjoying being themselves. There was a nonbinary artist with a beard in a dress that had a huge audience. It felt like a time to be around people who would love and accept you unconditionally.
To your point about the cis white gay men:
There was a much older lady running a booth (not selling just handing out fliers) for a first time sponsor, and I had such a lovely chat with her. Her husband came to keep her company and they were both expressing how they never really knew much about LGBT stuff but seeing people there and the joy really affected her. I don’t know if she was anti lgbt before, but you could tell she was really moved by seeing people basically just being at a fair, but able to be themselves. She told me about a gay couple that stopped by with their kids and how happy the kids looked. She even asked me about the flags (our pride had like every lgbt flag under the sun as freebies). Sure, maybe she’s only affected by the hetero seeming people that fit into the cis white 2.5 kids mold, but I really think it had an impact on her. So, to your point, sure I won’t argue that the hot cis white guys are probably more visible/“palatable” at pride, but it’s still a really important event for the community as a whole, and it’s gotten more open and accepting every year.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say their point had less to do with the young athletic cis white gay men and more to do with the corporate funding… which is usually wealthy cis white gay men who may as well be wealthy cis white straight men with their politics.
Maybe, but pride centering mostly attractive young cis white men has been a huge point for years, with (to my recollection) #prideSoWhite becoming a popular hashtag/rallying cry. I wasn’t on any social media outside of reddit at the time and even I saw people #prideSoWhite. Admittedly, both are issues, but I think the community understands that corpo sponsors are kinda necessary for the kind of pride people have become accustomed to, so generally the corpos get flack for sponsoring only a small “acceptable” portion of the community. I think asking community members to share the space with other community members has been the go to for resolving this, cuz you’re generally not gonna get corpos to sponsor them directly. I could be misreading their comment though.
This is a real blow if you enjoy corporations throwing a parade to celebrate young athletic cis white gay men.
Reminds me when Tim Cook came out as gay conveniently as all the investigations about Apple’s tax dodging were ramping up and rich successful gay white men in the media (*cough Chris Hughes cough) literally shut down stories on Apple’s tax dodging because of some bullshit malarkey about how it was attacking Tim Cook. I remember a bunch of bullshit about Tim Cook being “brave.”
Yeah, a rich white guy in charge of one of the world’s richest companies who definitely has his own private security, that’s real fucking brave. What a joke. Actual bravery is a gay kid in the deep South coming out in their 500 person hometown.
Shit, I knew a white kid from a town like that in Louisiana, and he wasn’t gay, just atheist, and some kids on the football team found out and beat the living shit out of him. His mom told him he asked for it for his beliefs. He filed for emancipation, applied for college, went to college at 16 and started double-majoring in molecular biology and botany. I hope he’s doing well.
Source for my Chris Hughes claim:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170308174919/https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-collapse-new-republic
Heartwarming: This billionaire con-artist who has swindled people into giving away digital autonomy, dodged taxes, uses inhumane labor overseas, and pretends to care about their end users is gay! ✨🌈
Agree with everything except the circumstances of Tim Cook’s “bravery”. He was outed on tv in a catty way, which generated a big bubble of support for him before he carefully opened the closet door.
I had actually forgotten that aspect, thank you for the reminder.
Maybe where you’re at, but our pride was full of all colors of the rainbow and all walks of life. There were speeches from much older people talking about their joy when they were able to be married to their partner of several decades. There were people presenting from all over the gender spectrum. There were drag performers of all sizes and races and people who were just enjoying being themselves. There was a nonbinary artist with a beard in a dress that had a huge audience. It felt like a time to be around people who would love and accept you unconditionally.
To your point about the cis white gay men: There was a much older lady running a booth (not selling just handing out fliers) for a first time sponsor, and I had such a lovely chat with her. Her husband came to keep her company and they were both expressing how they never really knew much about LGBT stuff but seeing people there and the joy really affected her. I don’t know if she was anti lgbt before, but you could tell she was really moved by seeing people basically just being at a fair, but able to be themselves. She told me about a gay couple that stopped by with their kids and how happy the kids looked. She even asked me about the flags (our pride had like every lgbt flag under the sun as freebies). Sure, maybe she’s only affected by the hetero seeming people that fit into the cis white 2.5 kids mold, but I really think it had an impact on her. So, to your point, sure I won’t argue that the hot cis white guys are probably more visible/“palatable” at pride, but it’s still a really important event for the community as a whole, and it’s gotten more open and accepting every year.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say their point had less to do with the young athletic cis white gay men and more to do with the corporate funding… which is usually wealthy cis white gay men who may as well be wealthy cis white straight men with their politics.
Maybe, but pride centering mostly attractive young cis white men has been a huge point for years, with (to my recollection) #prideSoWhite becoming a popular hashtag/rallying cry. I wasn’t on any social media outside of reddit at the time and even I saw people #prideSoWhite. Admittedly, both are issues, but I think the community understands that corpo sponsors are kinda necessary for the kind of pride people have become accustomed to, so generally the corpos get flack for sponsoring only a small “acceptable” portion of the community. I think asking community members to share the space with other community members has been the go to for resolving this, cuz you’re generally not gonna get corpos to sponsor them directly. I could be misreading their comment though.