A homophobic lawmaker is now calling for a lifetime travel ban on Apple CEO Tim Cook, who came out publicly as gay on Thursday morning.

Vitaly Milonov, the politician behind St Petersburg’s anti-gay ‘propaganda’ law that has since been adopted federally by the Russian Parliament, suggested Mr Cook could bring “the Ebola virus, AIDS [and] gonorrhea” to Russia.

“What could he bring us? The Ebola virus, AIDS, gonorrhea? They all have unseemly ties over there,” Mr Milonov told the FlashNord website. “Ban him for life.”

Earlier this summer, the anti-gay politician blasted Britain’s decision to allow gay nationals to marry at its embassy in Moscow.

He said: “They can marry monkeys and register perverts for all I care”.

In August last year, Mr Milanov said that gay people were not “normal” and compared being gay to living “with a dog, with a horse, with a sheep, whatever.”

On Thursday, Apple boss Tim Cook spoke publicly on his sexuality for the first time, revealing he is “proud to be gay.”

He wrote in Businesweek “So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.

Despite never publicly addressing his sexuality, Cook topped Out Magazine’s power list three years in a row between 2011 and 2013.

He came second on this year’s list, edged out by TV host Ellen DeGeneres.