A gay friend pointed out how many members of top Apple management were gay.  He is getting this from the local gay newspapers which also report a generally high proportion of gays in top management of many American companies.

My first reaction is that Apple was founded as a hippie company and retained its hippie roots. Steve Jobs was a hippie every day of his life.

That led to another thought: how much does the gay movement owe the hippies?

I can personally testify that gays were unnoticed as different and were openly welcomed by hippies who were not judgmental about sexual matters.  In the hippie business community that I organized (the Briarpatch Network) there were many businesses operated by gays.  We never noticed it.

I finally noticed it when Harvey Milk ran for San Francisco city supervisor and began going to all the hippie parties.  He got widespread support because hippies liked him.  Being gay was not of importance.

The role Glide Church played in the liberation of the gay community, with Ted McIvenna’s  Sex and Drug Forum, is unquestionable.  I also see a major role for the hippies, too.