In an editorial titled “Tim Cook Speaks Up,” published by Bloomberg Businessweek Thursday morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged rumors that he is gay. “While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now,” Cook states. “So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”

Cook explains that his privacy and a preference to keeping the focus on Apple as a company as reasons for not coming out before this. “Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I’m gay,” he writes, “and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way they treat me.”

This admission comes on the heels of a speech Cook made earlier this week criticizing the State of Alabama for being too slow in accepting and implementing equal rights for African Americans and LGBT individuals. Immediately after that speech came the accusations on the internet that his interest in pushing for LGBT rights was that he is gay. Although the essay in today’s Bloomberg Businessweek does not mention these rumors as a catalyst, it may be that he was forced to come out publicly as payback for his stern criticism of Alabama.

To our knowledge, Tim Cook is the only CEO of a Fortune 500 company who has come out as gay.