EXCERPT:
COOK: "My strong view is everybody should be treated with dignity and respect. And that's the way I look at everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, regardless of the religion, their gender, their ethnic history, regardless of their gender identity, anything. So that's the way I look at things. I was public because I began to receive stories from kids who read something online that I was gay and they were going through being bullied, feeling like their family didn't love them, being pushed out of their home, very close to suicide, I mean just things that really just pulled my heart. And I started saying, you know, I am a private person and so I've kept me to my small circle and I started thinking, you know, that is a selfish thing to do at this point. I need to be bigger than that, I need to do something for them and show them that you can be gay and still go on and do some big jobs in life, that there is a path there. And so, that is a reason I did it, I did not do it for other CEOs to come out. It wasn't even in my mind. I was the first, which is kind of shocking that I was the first. Now I feel — "
AMANPOUR: "Feel proud of it?"
COOK: "I'm very proud of it. I am very proud of it. Yes, absolutely. To me, it is God's greatest gift to me."