Days after Apple CEO Tim Cook came out publicly about his homosexuality, a Russian monument dedicated to the company co-founder Steve Jobs has reportedly been removed.
The two-meter tall, iPhone-like monument was set up in a St. Petersburg university campus in January 2013 by a group of companies called ZEFS, also referred to as the Western European Financial Union, according to Reuters.
It was taken down last Friday, a day after Cook's statement, as his revelation allegedly went against the law countering 'gay propaganda' in the country.
"Russian legislation prohibits propaganda of homosexuality and other sexual perversions among minors. After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was dismantled pursuant to Russian federal law on the protection of children from information that promotes the denial of traditional family values," ZEFS said in its statement, reported Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a law last year prohibiting 'propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors', a law which he claims is only meant to protect young people and children.
In a shocking reaction to Cook's statement, St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov had reportedly called for a ban on the Apple CEO from travelling to Russia, even claiming that he "could bring the Ebola virus, AIDS, gonorrhea" to Russia.
Cook posted a tell-all article about his sexuality on Bloomberg Businessweek on 30 October. "While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven't publicly acknowledged it either, until now. 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 had said in his first public statement about his sexuality last week.
While most reports suggest the Russian memorial to Jobs was taken down in protest of Cook's statement, a Russian state news agency has reportedly stated that a letter from ZEFS to the university had announced that the monument had to be taken in for repairs, The Washington Post reported.
