Reaction to Tim Cook's decision to publicly come out in a Bloomberg Businessweek op-ed has been mostly positive for the Apple CEO. But not everyone is so supportive.
Vitaly Milonov, Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, and notable homophobe, on Thursday said he wants a lifetime prohibition on Cook's entrance into Russia.
"What could be bring us? The Ebola virus, AIDS, gonorrhea? They all have unseemly ties over there," Milonov told the Flashnord website, according to Buzzfeed's translation. "Ban him for life."
A private man running one of the most scrutinized companies on the globe, Cook briefly lowered his defenses to address his sexual orientation in a Bloomberg essay: "I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me," he said.
The announcement, the CEO said, is meant to bring comfort to others who are struggling or feel alone, and to "inspire people to insist on their equality."
Cook did just that in an acceptance speech during his induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor, challenging his home state to do more to protect the rights of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
The Russian government, meanwhile, uses LGBT rights as a wedge issue to highlight its opposition of Western democracy, Buzzfeed said. Local officials, including Milonov, often carry iPhones and iPads, but the St. Petersburg MP recently condemned the iPhone 6 as too vulnerable to U.S. spying.
Cupertino's products have long been available in Russia, where the Apple logo once served as a status symbol. In 2012, Cupertino opened its own licensed stores in the country. But despite the handsets' popularity among politicians, Apple holds a very small percentage of the Russian smartphone market, likely due to the iPhone's high cost.