10月底,蘋果公司執行長庫克(Tim Cook)發布公開信,向世人坦承性向。雖然他從未刻意隱瞞,但也不曾明說;如今他選擇出櫃,反而立下平權標竿。他除了感謝其他同性戀者付出的努力,也倡議無論同性戀或異性戀,都值得同等的尊重和對待。
【出櫃淺談】 come out 出櫃 A:Tim Cook made it public, he is a gay! (庫克公開承認他是同性戀!) B:By coming out, he lets the world know that he is proud of being gay. (他公開同志身分,是要讓世界知道他以身為同性戀為榮。) sexual orientation 性傾向 A:That's what I call a leader. He is far ahead of other corporate men and women who are afraid to reveal their sexual orientation. (這才叫領袖,就是比那些在業界不敢透露自己性傾向的男男女女,走在更前頭。) B:I understand their plight and fears. People may still label them as "unusual." (我了解他們的困境和恐懼。人們仍然會給他們貼上「不正常」的標籤。) discrimination 歧視 A:There's still a long way to go. (還有很多努力的空間。) B:Yes, you can make laws as equal as possible, but combating discrimination, bigotry and prejudice is much harder. (是啊,即使你可以追求法律上的平等,但是消除歧視、偏執和偏見則更為困難。)
【延伸關鍵字】 1. gender equality:性別平等 2. LGBT:lesbian(女同性戀)、gay(男同性戀)、bisexual(雙性戀)、 transgender(變性者)各取其字首的統稱 3. out of closet:出櫃(較正式的說法) (TOEIC900 工作團隊獨家授權)