Apple CEO Announces He Is Gay: Can This Be Acceptable in The Kenyan Workplace?

By Jane Okoth

When you wake up to the realization that your boss who is responsible for mentoring you is gay, what goes in your mind?

Would you change the way you treated him or never associate with him at the expense of your job?

In his own words, Tim says “I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”

The Apple chief also said that he had tried to maintain “a basic level of privacy.” But he said he decided that desire for privacy was stopping him from working for the benefit of others.

“Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I’m gay, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way they treat me,”

Another gay CEO John Browne of BP has expressed his support for Cook and said the move will speed up changes in the corporate world.

“For too long, too many people have had to hide that part of their identity in the workplace,” he said.

Back to Kenya, would the idea really be a good one in the country?

“I would never embrace this idea. Homosexuality is condemned in the bible and also punishable by law,” says Paul Wachira, a Graduate Trainee at a local bank.

“As a male worker, how I am supposed to relate with a gay co worker without feeling threatened and uncomfortable. We will never accept this uncouth behavior in our country,” he says.

He also adds that “Furthermore, this is more of a westernized behavior that we refuse to adopt in our African settings.”

But Thomas Muloki, an Architect at an Investment Company is of a different opinion.

“I would have a problem having a gay co worker but things have changed nowadays thanks to education and technology”

“Take a look at CNN lead reporter Anderson cooper. The guy has publicly declared that he is gay and that cannot deter him from performing his duties well and I am sure that all his colleagues at CNN relate well with him,” he says.

“I am not advocating for the rights of gay people but if I had a workmate who is one, I would bit accommodative,” he suggests.

“Gays and homosexuals have no place in the corporate world,” says Francis Gitau, a Human Resource Consultant at a top IT firm.

“They will never be accepted now or in the future and that is why they should their agenda elsewhere.

He announced it because he is in America and we know that western people will accept him,” he adds.

Will Kenya ever accept gays and homosexuals especially in the corporate world?

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