Alabama state representative Patricia Todd announced today that her upcoming anti-discrimination bill will be named after Tim Cook. Todd plans to introduce the bill, which would prevent the government from discriminating in its hiring practices based on points such as sexual orientation, in March.
Initially Todd received pushback from Apple on the naming of the bill, with Apple saying that Cook would probably not want his named attached to a sensitive piece of legislation. After a few days, however, the company informed her that “Tim was honored to hear that State Rep. Todd wanted to name an antidiscrimination bill after him.”
Todd has said she hopes Cook will eventually be able to come speak to the state legislature about the bill when it comes up for a vote.
Cook was born in Alabama and recently returned there for his induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor, where he gave a speech panning his home state for its pace on social issues. A few days later the executive came out as gay in an essay published on Bloomberg.
