Tim Cook Gives Big To HRC

The Human Rights Campaign today announced that Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a large donation to help fund LGBT advocacy in southern states including his native Alabama.

The amount of Cook's contribution to the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign wasn't disclosed, but the advocacy organization called it "substantial." Organizers said it would help fund a three-year, $8.5 million campaign launched in April in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi. Called Project One America, the goal of the public relations effort is to build acceptance for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the states. The campaign includes advertising on TV and elsewhere, direct-mail fliers and staff members hired in each state. "We hope Tim Cook's substantial personal investment inspires others to support this vital and historic project," Jason Rahlan, a spokesman for Human Rights Campaign, said in an email.

Cook formally came out in October, spawning widespread condemnation by anti-gay groups but no organized campaign to boycott Apple has yet developed.