Steve Jobs monument removed by homophobic Russians

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Steve Jobs statue in Russia at its public unveiling Photo: RIA Novosti
The Steve Jobs monument at its public unveiling. Photo: RIA Novosti

A monument to Steve Jobs has been removed from St. Petersburg in the aftermath of Tim Cook publicly coming out as gay.

While Cook’s eloquent and poignant essay was largely greeted by celebrations online, in Russia it prompted bigoted comments from politician Vitaly Milonov, whose government has now insisted the Jobs statue be removed as further punishment.

The Steve Jobs monument was erected after Jobs’ death. Featuring an interactive screen with photos, videos and text about Apple’s late co-founder, it was put up on the grounds of an IT university in January 2013, paid for by a Russian company called Western European Financial Union.

The monument was designed by local native Gleb Tarasov and was named “Sunny QR Code.”

According to the chief of Western European Financial Union — cited on Russian Radio station Biznes-FM — the removal of the sculpture was to comply with a law banning the spread of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” among minors.

Source: Radio Free Europe

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