Apple CEO Tim Cook raised concern on Thursday over LGBTQ laws in the United States, mainly Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill (HB 1557), which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Florida lawmakers recently passed a Republican-backed bill prohibiting classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity for young (K-3, ages 5-8) students. LGBTQ+ activists have attacked the legislation amid an increasingly partisan debate over what schools should teach children and at what ages.
“As a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, I am deeply concerned about laws being enacted across the country, particularly those focused on our vulnerable youth,” Cook said on Twitter.
As a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, I am deeply concerned about laws being enacted across the country, particularly those focused on our vulnerable youth. I stand with them and the families, loved ones, and allies who support them.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 11, 2022
MacDailyNews Take: As any parent — which Tim Cook is not — knows, children aged 5-8 (Kindergarten – 3rd grade) do not require and are not ready for classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The bill passed in the Florida House of Representatives (HB 1557) does not include the word “gay,” severely hampering the veracity of opponents’ hashtag, nor does the bill ban any discussion of topics relating to sexual orientation and gender identity. In fact, the bill does not even limit discussion on sex, even though it’s age inappropriate, as any even halfway decent parent knows implicitly.
Florida’s HB 1557 restricts sexual orientation or gender identity instruction to students in kindergarten through third grade “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
Tim Cook should not be “deeply concerned” over HB 1557 – and likely wouldn’t be, had he actually read its text, nor should Tim Cook be tacitly or directly involving the Apple brand in his own personal politics.
Read Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill (HB 1557) here.
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The gaystapo speaks
Tim Cook, Steve’s worst mistake!
I agree with the MDN take 100%.
I’m waiting to hear Jessie Smollett’s take. I’m pretty sure he’s vested in this matter and he just came upon some time to think/write about it. Besides, credibility is a major factor with any good influencer.
Cook should be more concerned with bringing back “It just works.” Haven’t seen that in years
Hal, we have other concerns in the World these days and certain “memes” once embraced by the Apple Community, become dated and simply expire. Being a company of Culture now presides…something we all need.
You mean being a company of “woke” culture? And has been pointed out, why mix his personal beliefs with the Apple brand?
Yes, we need more of that! /s
Couldn’t agree with you more
As we all know by know, unfortunately, Tim Cook is an obviously damaged virtue signaler who apparently didn’t read the bill, believes what they feed him on MSDNC, or is a bald-faced liar.
As a parent of young children, these sort of political, wrongheaded, bad for kids proclamations from childless Tim Cook make me less inclined to buy Apple products and services.
Confused globalist leftist elites like Tim Cook are scared shitless of Ron DeSantis, as they should be, and are desperately trying to concoct “controversy.”
It’s funny how spectacularly and foolishly they fail. 🤣
DeSantis 2028!
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis received a phone call this week from Bob Chapek, the CEO of Disney. Chapek asked DeSantis to veto the Parental Rights in Education bill, which bars teachers from instructing children under the age of eight about sex.
“Here’s what I can tell you, in the state of Florida, we are not going to allow them to inject transgenderism into kindergarten. First graders shouldn’t have woke gender ideology imposed in their curriculum and that is what we’re standing for because we’re standing for the kids and we’re standing for the parents,” DeSantis told a group of parents Thursday afternoon.
Disney is the largest corporation in the state, where Disney World is located, and DeSantis didn’t budge. He also called the corporation out for their business in China.
“How do they possibly explain lining their pockets with their relationship from the Communist Party of China? Because that’s what they do, and they make a fortune, and they don’t say a word about the really brutal practices at the hands of the CCP.”
THE SAME GOES FOR APPLE AND TIM COOK.
“… nor should Tim Cook be tacitly or directly involving the Apple brand in his own personal politics.”
BINGO! There’s no room for personal politics among the leadership in a company like Apple. Tim Cook should take a cue from his predecessor on politics in the workplace.
So, Tim Cook really wants public school teachers to talk to your kindergartener about men having sex with each other?
It’s a bad look. Duh.
Why is it so important to Tim Cook that very young children of other people be talked to about sexuality?
It’s actually nauseating as it seems like something that’d be important to groomers, pedophiles, and/or sex traffickers.
Tim Cook should shut up about his own bad, often anti-American politics. He hurts Apple needlessly with his knee-jerk, wrongheaded, and sanctimonious virtue signaling.
Who appointed Tim Cook head of the Kevin Spacey lobby?
How about teaching reading, writing and math? You know… number, counting, vowels, consonants, sight words, spelling, short stories, rhyming, etc…. That would be nice for a change.
Tim Cook is “deeply concerned” that he can’t instruct five- to eight-year-olds about LGBTQ+ sex.
Tim Cook should keep his yap shut about topics he doesn’t even remotely understand.
Sincerely,
Mother of three
I demand every 5 year old be taught they can pick their own gender!!!!
Sherm, unless you were being sarcastic, and it’s hard to tell, especially when Sherm you often seem to be a germ with an intestinal worm, I demand you change your name to Sherm666.
Really? What an idiotic statement. No one picks their gender. You’re born male, you’re male. You’re born female, you’re female. Talks and instruction about sexuality are for parents to discuss with their kids, not governments, schools, or anybody outside of family.
I don’t know…I’m all for Let’s Get Biden To Quit instruction in schools.
Great, then America gets stuck with his even more brain-dead (if that’s even possible) affirmative action token.
OMG, I didn’t expect to agree, but I do! Way to go MacDailyNews! I am not interested in what Tim Cooks opinion is on laws that he apparently didn’t even investigate, nor reading about such issues in tech news. Actually same goes for sports, entertainment and the like. Please continue to let me geek out in relative peace.
Thank you for giving me a good reason to unsubscribe from your feed. I’m here to read Apple news, not intolerant commentary.
Protecting the innocence of 5-8 year olds is not intolerance, groomer.
We’ll survive just fine without you and you ilk. In fact, we’ll thrive.
You are welcome to leave. On your way to the unsubscribe button, kindly note that nobody forced you to read what YOU deem to be “intolerant” comments. Seems that YOU might be the intolerant one… are you not being intolerant of people who have a different viewpoint from your own. See ya!
You are a moron.
Pick up that ass then, and carry it, soyboy.
When the tables turn on Woke — and that day is coming soon — it’s gonna be so fast and hard the left won’t know how it happened.
Spoiler alert, it happened because of crazy shit like teaching gender ideology to children.
Simple.
Had enough of this homo, woke POS. if he can’t shut his homoflapping hole in his face, he ought to get the hell out of Apple. He makes me sick.
Tim Cook supports the grooming of 5-8 year olds.
Is Human Rights!
To all the pedes on this site who complain of “political” posts and comments that have nothing to do with Apple and tech, tell me again how Tim Cook’s views being deeply concerned on this Floridian matter have anything to do with Apple and tech?
If it were not for Apple, where would Tim Cook and his deeply concerned views be? I seriously doubt he would have the following and the stage he currently enjoys to grandstand on matters seemingly of the utmost importance to him.
Meanwhile, Apple stock…
As a very satisfied product of parochial education for the first twelve grades, I am against proselytizing for any belief or life style in public schools. Beliefs and lifestyles are the domain of parents and the “isms” that the parents choose. The domain of public schools reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and science.
Apple has no dog in this hunt, and should butt out. If Tim Cook has an opinion on the matter, he should write a personal letter to the representative for his district in the Florida legislature.
Apple like most big corporations does political donations so Tim Cook is well within his right to bring up an issue but he thinks it’s wrong.
I live in Florida horrified at what our governor is doing. Not just this issues but pretty much everything.
With this issue the kids who have two moms or two dads or maybe are not cis gender or maybe not heterosexual are now being made to feel there’s something wrong with them. This is like going back in time to the 50s.
What a TZTerrible take.
How so?
If you think what Giv DeSantis is doing is wrong, you are a truly TZTerrible person.
I agree with MDN’s take, children that age, should not require classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity training because they should be more than ready for it by the time they get to school, that is if their classical training hasn’t been censored.
IMHO, the article expressed why Apple can’t be what it once was. Regardless of what we think of Cook’s cause, his cause keeps him from exclusively committed to making great products and it shows in many little ways like the crappy power cables that come with most products. Yes, Apple still makes good products, maybe still the best products, but not insanely great products. Products that aren’t simply incrementally better but are truly innovative. Products that “bend the curve” as Guy Kawasaki would say. What gives us now are merely bigger faster horses and not cars. Better saws for cutting ice not ice making machines for the home.
Cook isn’t the man to lead to that better place. What Steve Jobs said happens whenever to the visionary people stop running the company and the sells folks do, apparently applies equally well with supply change people are in charge.
Whatever good Tim Cook brings to , a vision for innovation insanely great technology isn’t part of it. Jobs was a visionary who knew how to surround himself with people who could bring his vision into reality. They never could/would on their own. They needed Jobs relentless drive for making things great not just good. For his seeing what no one else could see.
Sadly, the folks who likely could have are now gone, Johnny Ives, Ron Johnson, or Scott Forstall. Cook fired Forstall over the maps debacle. I’ve seen articles that say Cook used the situation to get rid of Forstall because he was threatened by Scott who was too much like Jobs. Scott was able to stand up to Jobs and push back when he thought Steve was wrong. Jobs didn’t want 3rd party apps on the iPhone. It was Scott who reportedly cussed Steve Jobs out in front of the other VPs for his lack of vision of how 3rd party apps where what would unleash the power of iPhone.
Tim Cook’s vision lays somewhere else than transforming the world by wedding innovative technology with fine arts. Apparently, Cook’s vision is for a different sort of transformation.
Per the law, if a boy happens to be playing with a doll and the other kids make fun of him, a teacher should not tell the class that there are not gender specific toys. That could easily be determined to be a discussion on Gender Identity. If a girl is wearing jeans and a t-shirt and starts getting bullied, the school can not try to convince the kids that there are no gender specific cloths as that that could be determined to be a discussion on Gender Identity. In both cases, parents can arbitrarily cost the school money as they would have to pay for the magistrate. Also age appropriate is not determined in this. That vagueness opens the school system to lawsuits at any age.