Russian man sues Apple for “turning him gay”
A Russian man has filed a lawsuit against tech giant Apple for moral harm claiming that an iPhone app has made him gay, according to a copy of the complaint seen by AFP.
The man has filed a suit in a Moscow court, asking for one million rubles (AUD$ 22,800) after an incident this summer delivered him a cryptocurrency called “GayCoin” instead of the Bitcoin he had ordered.
His lawyer Sapizhat Gusnieva insisted the case was “serious,” telling AFP that her client was “scared, he suffered”.
The GayCoin cryptocurrency arrived with a note saying, “Don’t judge until you try,” according to the complaint.
“I thought, in truth, how can I judge something without trying? I decided to try same-sex relationships,” the complainant wrote.
“Now I have a boyfriend and I do not know how to explain this to my parents … my life has been changed for the worse and will never become normal again,” he added.
“Apple pushed me towards homosexuality through manipulation. The changes have caused me moral and mental harm.”
His lawyer says that Apple “has a responsibility for their programs”, despite the exchange taking place on a third-party app.
Homophobia is rampant in Russia, where reports of rights violations and attacks on LGBT people are common.
Moscow has also introduced a law in 2013 against “gay propaganda”, which bans the “promotions of non-traditional lifestyles to minors”, but effectively outlaws LGBT activism.