MOSCOW - A memorial to Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs has been dismantled in the Russian city of St Petersburg after the man who succeeded him at the helm of the company came out as gay. The more than six-foot-high monument, in the shape of an iPhone, was erected outside a St. Petersburg college in January 2013 by a Russian group of companies called ZEFS.

Citing the need to abide by a law combating "gay propaganda," ZEFS said in a statement on Monday that the memorial had been removed on Friday -- the day after Apple CEO Tim Cook penned a piece about being gay. "In Russia, gay propaganda and other sexual perversions among minors are prohibited by law," ZEFS said, noting that the memorial had been "in an area of direct access for young students and scholars."

"After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was taken down to abide to the Russian federal law protecting children from information promoting denial of traditional family values," ZEFS statement said. President Vladimir Putin last year signed a law prohibiting the spread of "gay propaganda" among minors. The "gay propaganda" law caused outrage and protests in the West, particularly in the run-up to the Winter Olympics hosted by Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in February.

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- Reuters