Get the Gaydar Out

Apparently Tim Cook telling the world he is a gayer means others should do likewise. Oh, my, here we go again. Cooke’s sexuality is irrelevant to his role, therefore we don’t need to know. Certainly I have no wish to know and I sure as hell-fire don’t plan to celebrate it or offer my congratulations on his “bravery”.

I don’t go into the training room and tell my trainees about my gender identity because it is not relevant and it is none of their concern. So why should Cook shout his homosexuality from the rooftops? We don’t need to know this.

Campaigners say they know of bosses of other big firms who are gay, but are reluctant to be open about it.

Because, unlike the narcissistic Cook, they realise that it is no one else’s bloody business and have some sense of decorum. The decision to come out is a personal thing and we decide when and to whom on our own terms – not because campaigners think we should. So fuck off already – and so can Tim Cook. No one has any obligation to be a role model.

Most business people are “squeamish” about speaking about their personal lives, says Jan Gooding, group brand director of insurance giant Aviva and chair of Stonewall.

They would rather be known for their work as professionals than for their sexual orientation, she says.

That is precisely as it should be.

But chief executives are now under pressure now to reveal more about their personal lives.

And they shouldn’t. They have a job to do – that job does not involve telling people about their sexual preferences or orientation. Because those things are no one else’s business and are entirely irrelevant to the work they are doing.

Every so often I get forms to fill in asking me about such things and always, without fail I refuse to comply. Because my sexual orientation and gender identity are nothing to do with anyone else unless I choose specifically to tell them.

And that is how it should be.