Texas Senator Ted Cruz has described
Apple CEO Tim Cook's sexual orientation as a “personal choice.”
Cook, long rumored to be gay, broke his
silence on his sexuality on Thursday in an essay published in
Bloomberg
Businessweek.
“I'm proud to be gay, and I consider
being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,” Cook, 53,
wrote.
(Related: Tim
Cook: Being gay “among the greatest gifts God has given me.”)
Cruz was asked to weigh in on Cook's
announcement during an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box.
“Those are his personal choices,”
Cruz
answered. “I'll tell you I love my iPhone.”
“Listen, Tim Cook makes his personal
decisions, and that is his life. My focus is on the constitutional
question of who has the authority to make decisions,” Cruz said.
Cruz, a Republican, stated that he
believes marriage is best left up to the states, though he repeated
his opposition to allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry and
criticized recent Supreme Court decisions that paved the way for
marriage equality in 16 states, 3 of which have yet to comply with
appellate court decisions.
“This is something we've seen over
and over again, which is the federal government and federal courts
deciding they don't trust the people,” Cruz said. “They look
down on the people, they don't trust us to make judgments about our
own lives, so the federal government and federal courts are going to
step in and impose their own policy preferences.”