El 4: Apple CEO Tim Cook Speaks Out For Workplace Rights in Op-Ed

It's not often that Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, uses his voice for issues not directly related to the company's latest innovations, but on Sunday, he penned an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal regarding an issue that affects every company in the U.S.

Addressing the upcoming Senate vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) scheduled to take place on Monday, Cook wrote an impassioned editorial outlining Apple's stance on the issue.

"Apple's antidiscrimination policy goes beyond the legal protections U.S. workers currently enjoy under federal law, most notably because we prohibit discrimination against Apple's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees," wrote Cook.

"A bill now before the U.S. Senate would update those employment laws, at long last, to protect workers against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

According to a report in last week's Washington Blade, there are high hopes in Washington that the bill will finally, after years of political wrangling, have the opportunity to be made into law.

Throughout Cook's editorial, the head of Apple offers a number of arguments for passing ENDA based on human rights. However, for those perhaps not predisposed to agree with that side of his argument, Cook's editorial also appeals to the paper's more business-centric readers.

"If our coworkers cannot be themselves in the workplace, they certainly cannot be their best selves," wrote Cook. "When that happens, we undermine people's potential and deny ourselves and our society the full benefits of those individuals' talents."

1. Chris Hughes

One of the co-founders of Facebook, Hughes left the company in 2007 to become director of online organizing for Barack Obama's first presidential campaign. In 2010, the entrepreneur founded Juno, a social network aimed at connecting users interested in social good and activism.

Currently, Hughes is the publisher and editor in chief of The New Republic, a progressive political commentary magazine.

Hughes married partner Sean Eldridge, president of investment fund Hudson River Ventures and LGBT equality advocate, in June 2012.

Image courtesy of Facebook, Chris Hughes
2. Peter Sisson

Sisson founded telecommunications company Toktumi in 2008. The company is known for its successful app, Line2, a VoIP service that makes voice calls over Internet protocol addresses rather than relying on telephone companies -- similar to Skype.

According to Big Think, Sisson says being a gay entrepreneur can be challenging, but in his home of San Francisco, it's a "non-issue."

"There's never been any sort of problem with anyone finding out that I was gay and suddenly not wanting to do business with me or not wanting to fund me," he said.

Image courtesy of Facebook, Peter Sisson
3. Peter Thiel

Best known for co-founding PayPal and working as its CEO, Thiel is also a successful venture capitalist and hedge fund manager. When eBay acquired PayPal in 2002, Thiel's stake was estimated around $55 million.

He also made the first outside investment in Facebook in 2004, securing a 10.2% stake for $500,000.

As an openly gay advocate of LGBT causes, Thiel has contributed to the American Foundation for Equal Rights and GOProud.

Image courtesy of Flickr, TechCrunch50-2008
4. Megan Smith

Smith is the VP of business development at Google. She has been with the company over 15 years, starting when PlanetOut partnered with Google in 1998. Smith acted as CEO at PlanetOut, an entertainment and media company targeting the LGBT community.

Smith and her wife, journalist Kara Swisher, have two young sons, Louie and Alex.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Joi
5. Dana Contreras

Contreras started working at Twitter two and a half years ago. She quickly climbed the company ladder to become a senior systems engineer.

As a transgender woman, Contreras finds Twitter as welcoming and supportive a workplace as they come.

Contreras married her wife Melissa five years ago, before she gender-transitioned.

Image courtesy of Twitter, Dana Contreras
6. Tom Coates

Hailed as one of the earliest webloggers on the Internet, Coates operated award-winning new media blog plastigbag.org until mid-2011, around the time he resigned from Yahoo. He also organized London's Hack Day in 2007, and advises several startups, including Lanyrd.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Joi
7. Joel Simkhai

In 2009, Simkhai (left) founded Grindr, arguably the most popular dating and social network for gay and bisexual men. The company boasts over 4 million users in 192 countries.

Initially, Simkhai faced self-doubt as a gay man in business. "One of my problems was I thought I couldn't be as successful," Simkhai told Inc. "That's partially because I didn't have any gay role models who were very successful and in high-profile jobs."

Image courtesy of Facebook, Joel Simkhai
8. Jason Goldberg

Founder and CEO of Fab.com, Goldberg initially launched the property as a social network for gay people before transitioning the company to a design inspiration and ecommerce site.

Goldberg and business partner Brian Ellner also launched a site called The Four 2012, which pioneers gay marriage equality through social media efforts.

Goldberg married husband Christian Schoenherr in August 2012 in New York City.

Image courtesy of Facebook, Jason Goldberg
9. Jon Hall

Jon "Maddog" Hall is the executive director of Linux International, a non-profit that promotes Linux-based open source software development.

He earned the nickname "Maddog" as a professor at Hartford State Technical College, where he also served as computer science department head.

According to Out magazine, Hall was inspired to come out on the 100th anniversary of mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing's birth. "I explained to people who wondered why I came out online that there are a lot of young geeks who are going through the same thing," he said. "And I wanted to let them know they were not alone, and that it gets better."

Image courtesy of Flickr, campuspartybrasil