Tim Cook accepts achievement award from alma mater Auburn, lobbies for equal rights

In video posted of a New York event held on Tuesday, Tim Cook accepts a Lifetime Achievement Award from Auburn University, where the presiding Apple CEO earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. Cook spends much of his 13-minute speech championing the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) — proposed federal legislation designed to prohibit companies from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity — that he originally endorsed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month. He also brings up immigration reform, a hot-button topic in Silicon Valley perhaps best known for spawning Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us that has also been taken on by Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs. While acknowledging that both issues have measurable economic benefits, Cook insists that constituents support them because they are “right and just.”

Watch the full speech below.