The website RT.com insisted the report linking the monument removal to Cook's sexuality is a PR hoax. It cited a letter from the press service of the St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics that the reason behind the move was to fix its sensor screen. Fontanka.ru, a local news site, said that the university received a letter - before the Apple CEO admitted he is gay - from ZEFS that it would remove the monument to have it fixed because the screen was malfunctioning. 

Like Us on Facebook

Russia appeats to have confirmed its homophobic policy after it took down on Friday a giant iPhone monument at St. Petersburg in response to the recent admission by Apple CEO Tim Cook in a Bloomberg Businessweek article that he is gay.

ZEFS, or the Western European Financial Union, was quoted as saying the move was directly linked to Cook's confirmation of his sexual orientation.

"Russian legislation prohibits propaganda of homosexuality and other sexual perversion 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," The Washington Post quoted the ZEFS statement published on the Web site of Ekho Moskvy, a Russian radio station.

ZEFS head Maxim Dolgopolov spearheaded the erection of the giant iPhone in 2013 in honor of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who died of pancreatic cancer in 2012.

It allegedly cited that Russian law bans gay propaganda "and other sexual perversions" as it pointed out that the giant iPhone was located in a place that young students and scholars used to have a direct access. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who signed the federal law in 2013, insisted the legislation is not discriminatory because of its noble aim to protect the Russian youth.

Even prior to Cook's official outing of himself, the Communists of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region had complained of the phallic symbolism of the statue. The organization also said that the face of Jobs on the monument would scare the young people, plus it is a symbol of "the superiority of the American way of life."

Besides removing the giant iPhone statue, St. Petersburg City Councilman Vitaly Milonov also sought to prohibit Cook from entering Russia because of his being gay, reports the LA Times.

"What could he bring us? The Ebola virus, AIDS, gonorrhea?" the website FlashNord quoted Milonov.

The first nation to negatively react to Cook's disclosure of his sexuality is China when hours after his revelation, he became trending on Sina Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter, after Chinese netizens made fun of the Apple iPhone 6 #bendgate scandal and Cook's being gay since the Chinese street word for homosexuality is "bend."

Despite Cook's admission, tech analysts believe it would have little impact on Apple sales.

TagsTim Cook, Gay, Steve Jobs, st. petersburg, homophic