To all of the straight, white, cisgender people who are posting who cares? the answer is anyone who has been misrepresented, marginalised or overlooked by the media as a matter of course.
Looking at the diversity of the Fortune 500, specifically at those groups which are not straight or closeted, white men who identify with their birth gender, I see 6 Black CEOs (1.2%), 9 Asian CEOs (1.8%), 10 Latino CEOs (2%) and 24 female CEOs (4.8%) and now 1 openly LGBT CEO (.2%). The power rests in heterosexual, white male, cisgender hands, something which does not reflect the population in general.
White people make up 63.7% of the US population, Latino 16.4%, Black 12.2% and Asians 4.7%, Native Americans make up .7%, Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders .2%, people who identify as mixed race 1.9% and .2% of another racial identity. 3.8% of Americans identify as LGBTQA, and of course 50.9% of Americans identify as Female.
Were the Fortune 500 to genutinely reflect this, you would see; 319 White CEOs, 61 Black CEOs, 24 Asian CEOs, 4 Native American CEOs, 1 Hawaiian Pacific Islander, 10 people of mixed racial backgrounds and 1 person of another race. Of these 255 would be Female and 245 Male (overlooking the incidence of intersex or non-binary gender as I couldnt find adequate statistics on this), there would also be 19 openly LGBTQA people in this list.
The current list being so vastly dominated by a single demographic, one which would make up approximately 30% a random sample of Americans means that queer kids, ethnic minority kids and girls dont see CEO of a major company as an achievable goal, they are discouraged by the status quo.
Even the slightest amount of representation can change the viewpoint of people; can show someone that no, they dont need to be closeted if they want to go into business, they dont need to act white or accept a bum deal because of their gender identity. Tim Cooks coming out is not a so what, it is a huge deal for a lot of people. Those who resist the idea or question its relevance are part of a gradually eroding system of repression with ever increasingly outdated viewpoints.
I guess that when you can literally turn on any TV, anywhere in the world and place a safe bet that you will be able to find a story that is about people like you, you get complacent. Being able to open a newspaper and not read debates about why your rights are a hot political talking point or a piece of key policy must be nice. Hell, I bet you can even walk into a bookshop and find that the entire romance section is full of stories about relationships between a man and a woman, because thankfully anything else been cordoned off in their own special section.
The reason it is important that celebrities, that figures in the media come out is not out of a desire to seek further celebration and inflation of their egos. I imagine it is the same as anyones reason to come out; to have their sexuality visible. This visibility can be personally relieving, no more dodging questions about the man in your life but in the case of celebrities, it can have a much bigger affect. People, especially young people, are constantly seeking out role models and learning that a role model is gay can have profound effects on a developing person. It can easily show them that something they have absorbed through societies microaggressions as bad is perfectly normal, or it can help them to learn and accept something about themselves.
For queer kids who feel isolated, as if nobody else has ever had the feelings they do, I dont believe that a straight person could ever begin to conceive the comfort that seeing someone like me on television, in film or in the news can bring. Its as simple as knowing that you arent alone. It doesnt even have to be a real person, a character in a TV show or comic can be enough. The LGBT struggle for civil rights, and for the opportunity not to be bullied, overlooked or accepted but not condoned is reinforced with every Alan Cummings, Ellen Page, Michael Sam or Tim Cook who makes the frankly terrifying decision to go public with their sexuality, and with every Laverne Cox, Laura Jane Grace, Carmen Carrera or Andreja Pejić who shows that they can be a beautiful, powerful woman in the public eye regardless of peoples transphobia or bigotry.
Looking at the diversity of the Fortune 500, specifically at those groups which are not straight or closeted, white men who identify with their birth gender, I see 6 Black CEOs (1.2%), 9 Asian CEOs (1.8%), 10 Latino CEOs (2%) and 24 female CEOs (4.8%) and now 1 openly LGBT CEO (.2%). The power rests in heterosexual, white male, cisgender hands, something which does not reflect the population in general.
White people make up 63.7% of the US population, Latino 16.4%, Black 12.2% and Asians 4.7%, Native Americans make up .7%, Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders .2%, people who identify as mixed race 1.9% and .2% of another racial identity. 3.8% of Americans identify as LGBTQA, and of course 50.9% of Americans identify as Female.
Were the Fortune 500 to genutinely reflect this, you would see; 319 White CEOs, 61 Black CEOs, 24 Asian CEOs, 4 Native American CEOs, 1 Hawaiian Pacific Islander, 10 people of mixed racial backgrounds and 1 person of another race. Of these 255 would be Female and 245 Male (overlooking the incidence of intersex or non-binary gender as I couldnt find adequate statistics on this), there would also be 19 openly LGBTQA people in this list.
The current list being so vastly dominated by a single demographic, one which would make up approximately 30% a random sample of Americans means that queer kids, ethnic minority kids and girls dont see CEO of a major company as an achievable goal, they are discouraged by the status quo.
Even the slightest amount of representation can change the viewpoint of people; can show someone that no, they dont need to be closeted if they want to go into business, they dont need to act white or accept a bum deal because of their gender identity. Tim Cooks coming out is not a so what, it is a huge deal for a lot of people. Those who resist the idea or question its relevance are part of a gradually eroding system of repression with ever increasingly outdated viewpoints.
I guess that when you can literally turn on any TV, anywhere in the world and place a safe bet that you will be able to find a story that is about people like you, you get complacent. Being able to open a newspaper and not read debates about why your rights are a hot political talking point or a piece of key policy must be nice. Hell, I bet you can even walk into a bookshop and find that the entire romance section is full of stories about relationships between a man and a woman, because thankfully anything else been cordoned off in their own special section.
The reason it is important that celebrities, that figures in the media come out is not out of a desire to seek further celebration and inflation of their egos. I imagine it is the same as anyones reason to come out; to have their sexuality visible. This visibility can be personally relieving, no more dodging questions about the man in your life but in the case of celebrities, it can have a much bigger affect. People, especially young people, are constantly seeking out role models and learning that a role model is gay can have profound effects on a developing person. It can easily show them that something they have absorbed through societies microaggressions as bad is perfectly normal, or it can help them to learn and accept something about themselves.
For queer kids who feel isolated, as if nobody else has ever had the feelings they do, I dont believe that a straight person could ever begin to conceive the comfort that seeing someone like me on television, in film or in the news can bring. Its as simple as knowing that you arent alone. It doesnt even have to be a real person, a character in a TV show or comic can be enough. The LGBT struggle for civil rights, and for the opportunity not to be bullied, overlooked or accepted but not condoned is reinforced with every Alan Cummings, Ellen Page, Michael Sam or Tim Cook who makes the frankly terrifying decision to go public with their sexuality, and with every Laverne Cox, Laura Jane Grace, Carmen Carrera or Andreja Pejić who shows that they can be a beautiful, powerful woman in the public eye regardless of peoples transphobia or bigotry.
