（英文内容来源：businessweek.com，作者：Tim Cook 翻译：Will）
引言：认真去读这篇文章，不要只因为它是一条吸引眼球的新闻。你不仅会为库克的勇敢和真诚所打动，更会肃然起敬。作为一家全球顶级公司的CEO，他的出柜承担着巨大风险，却受到了苹果董事会的支持，甚至主流媒体的力挺（如：CNN, BusinessWeek等），因为他是在为一个弱势群体争取应有的权利。
Throughout my professional life, I’ve tried to maintain a basic level of privacy. I come from humble roots, and I don’t seek to draw attention to myself. Apple is already one of the most closely watched companies in the world, and I like keeping the focus on our products and the incredible things our customers achieve with them.
在我的整个职业生涯中，我一直试图维护基本的个人隐私。我出身普通人家，从不尝试吸引外界的注意。苹果已是全世界最受关注的公司之一，我希望将注意力放到我们的产品，以及我们的客户使用这些产品所完成那些壮举上。
At the same time, I believe deeply in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, who said: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ” I often challenge myself with that question, and I’ve come to realize that my desire for personal privacy has been holding me back from doing something more important. That’s what has led me to today.
与此同时，我深深信奉马丁·路德·金博士所说的话：“人生中最恒久的问题，也是最紧迫的问题是：‘你为他人做了什么？’”我经常质问自己这个问题，而我已意识到，我对于保留个人隐私的愿望已经在阻碍我做一些更重要的事情。这就是我今天做这件事的原因。
For years, I’ve been open with many people about my sexual orientation. Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I’m gay, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way they treat me. Of course, I’ve had the good fortune to work at a company that loves creativity and innovation and knows it can only flourish when you embrace people’s differences. Not everyone is so lucky.
多年来，我对很多人都坦陈了自己的性取向。很多苹果的同事都知道我是同性恋，而他们对待我的方式似乎并无不同。当然，苹果是一家热爱创造和革新的公司，并深知唯有拥抱人与人之间的差异，自身才能繁荣，能在苹果工作，是我的幸运。并非所有人都幸运如我。
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.
尽管我从未否认过自己的性取向，但我也从未公开承认过，直到现在。那么就让我正式地宣布吧：我为自己是同性恋感到自豪，我认为成为同性恋是上帝赐予我的最好的礼物之一。
Being gay has given me a deeper understanding of what it means to be in the minority and provided a window into the challenges that people in other minority groups deal with every day. It’s made me more empathetic, which has led to a richer life. It’s been tough and uncomfortable at times, but it has given me the confidence to be myself, to follow my own path, and to rise above adversity and bigotry. It’s also given me the skin of a rhinoceros, which comes in handy when you’re the CEO of Apple.
作为同性恋，让我更深刻地了解到，身处一个少数群体中意味着什么。并且给我开了一扇窗，让我能感受到其他弱势群体中人们每天都需面临的挑战。这让我更加具有同情心，让我的人生更加丰富。很多时候，作为同性恋会很不易、让你感觉不自在，但它同样给了我做真实自我的信心，忽略那些敌意和傲慢，走自己的路。这同样给了我一层“犀牛皮”，当你是苹果CEO时，这特别管用。
The world has changed so much since I was a kid. America is moving toward marriage equality, and the public figures who have bravely come out have helped change perceptions and made our culture more tolerant. Still, there are laws on the books in a majority of states that allow employers to fire people based solely on their sexual orientation. There are many places where landlords can evict tenants for being gay, or where we can be barred from visiting sick partners and sharing in their legacies. Countless people, particularly kids, face fear and abuse every day because of their sexual orientation.
从我的孩提时代起，世界经历了巨大的变化。美国正在走向婚姻平等，那些勇敢地出柜的公众人物帮助改变了人们的观念，并且让我们的文化更加宽容。然而，仍有大部分的州法律允许雇主仅仅因为员工的性取向就将其解雇。很多地方，房东可以因为租户是同性恋就将其驱逐出去，还有些地方禁止人们探望生病的伴侣或继承其遗产。无数的人们，特别是孩子，每天因为他们的性取向而面对恐惧和虐待。
I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.
我并未把自己视为是支持同性恋的活动分子，但我意识到自己从其他人所作出的牺牲中获益匪浅。如果苹果的CEO是同性恋这一信息，能够帮助某个正在为接受真实的自己而挣扎的人，为那些孤立无援者带去些许安慰，或激励人们坚持为获得平等权利而抗争，那么，就值得我用自己的隐私去换取。
I’ll admit that this wasn’t an easy choice. Privacy remains important to me, and I’d like to hold on to a small amount of it. I’ve made Apple my life’s work, and I will continue to spend virtually all of my waking time focused on being the best CEO I can be. That’s what our employees deserve—and our customers, developers, shareholders, and supplier partners deserve it, too. Part of social progress is understanding that a person is not defined only by one’s sexuality, race, or gender. I’m an engineer, an uncle, a nature lover, a fitness nut, a son of the South, a sports fanatic, and many other things. I hope that people will respect my desire to focus on the things I’m best suited for and the work that brings me joy.
我承认，做这个选择并非易事。隐私对我很重要，而我也希望能保留其中的少许。我已将苹果视为我毕生的事业，我也将竭尽所能，投入我全部时间致力于成为一位最优秀的CEO。这是我们的员工应得的–同时也是我们的客户、开发者、股东、供应商伙伴应得的。社会的进步部分体现在：能够理解到对一个人的评价不应仅仅取决于其性取向、种族、或性别。我自己就是一名工程师、一位叔叔、自然爱好者、健身迷、南方人、狂热体育迷，还有许许多多。我希望人们尊重我的意愿，让我能专注于做自己最擅长的事情，以及带给我快乐的工作。
The company I am so fortunate to lead has long advocated for human rights and equality for all. We’ve taken a strong stand in support of a workplace equality bill before Congress, just as we stood for marriage equality in our home state of California. And we spoke up in Arizona when that state’s legislature passed a discriminatory bill targeting the gay community. We’ll continue to fight for our values, and I believe that any CEO of this incredible company, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, would do the same. And I will personally continue to advocate for equality for all people until my toes point up.
我有幸领导的这家公司一直以来就倡导人权和人人平等。我们向国会表达了我们强烈支持职场平等法案的态度，正如我们在公司所位于的加州支持婚姻平等一样。当亚利桑那州立法通过一项针对同性恋群体的歧视性法案时，我们也进行了抗议。我们将继续为自己的价值观抗争，我相信，我们这家杰出公司的任何一位CEO，无论其种族、性别、或性取向，都会这么做。而我自己，也将不遗余力地为实现人人平而努力。
When I arrive in my office each morning, I’m greeted by framed photos of Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. I don’t pretend that writing this puts me in their league. All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I’m doing my part, however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick.
每天早上，当我踏入办公室时，我都会看到相框中金博士和罗伯特·F·肯尼迪的照片。我并不是想说，写了这篇文章，好像我就成为了他们那样杰出的人。我写这篇文章的意义在于，看到这些照片时，心中知道我正在尽自己的本分去帮助他人，尽管这些事情微乎其微。通过一砖一瓦，我们一起铺垫着洒满阳光的、通向公平正义的道路。而这，仅仅是我铺垫的一块砖。
（注：“出柜”一词，由英文come out of the closet直接翻译得来，也可简称为come out。即：公开承认自己的同性恋取向。有些朋友可能会不理解closet和同性恋有什么关系，其实可以这么理解，如果一个人hide in a closet（藏在柜子里），那么他就是在隐藏一些秘密。如果他走出柜子（come out of closet），也就意味着他不再隐藏，将秘密公诸于众。closet经常意味着秘密，比如另一个英语短语“a skeleton in the closet”（柜子里的骷髅架），也是指一个人隐藏的秘密，而且通常是dark secret。你还可以访问后面这个链接，学习更多关于come out of closet的含义和解释）
