Days after being pegged as gay on a news program, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook marched in San Francisco’s gay pride parade with gay and lesbian Apple workers.

Cook’s appearance came as a surprise, though thousands of Apple employees marched in the parade with specially made Apple t-shirts.

“Congrats to 5000 Apple employees/families who attended today’s Pride parade” Cook tweeted. “Inclusion inspires innovation.”

While Tim Cook congratulated workers for their own pride, he has yet to publicly acknowledge that he is gay, something that has been a relatively open secret among industry insiders.

Just days ago, CNBC anchor Simon Hobbs pointed out that Cook was gay during a discussion about the lack of publicly out gay CEOs.

His statement was met with complete silence by the rest of the panel.

“Oh, dear, was that an error? I thought he was open about it,” Hobbs said.

Apple has long supported the lesbian, gay, and transgender community, pointedly coming out against the Arizona bill earlier this year that would have allowed businesses to discriminate against gay customers.

“Apple believes equality and diversity make us stronger, and we’re proud to support our employees and their friends and families in this weekend’s celebration” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement.

When Cook was pointed CEO, numerous gay blogs trumpeted his climb to the top of Apple as a boost to publicly gay business leaders, but Tim Cook has never publicly discussed his sexuality.