A man in Russia is suing Apple for $15,000 in damages, claiming that a message he received on his iPhone made him gay.
The man, who is identified as D. Razumilov, says he downloaded a cryptocurrency payment app onto his phone in 2017, The Moscow Times reports. This summer, he says he was sent an LGBT+ cryptocurrency called “Gaycoins” from an anonymous sender. It came with the message: “Don’t judge without trying.”
“I thought, indeed, how can I judge something without trying it? And decided to try same-sex relationships,” Razumilov said. “I can say after the passage of two months that I’m mired in intimacy with a member of my own sex and can’t get out. I have a steady boyfriend and I don’t know how to explain it to my parents. After receiving the aforementioned message, my life has changed for the worse and will never be normal again.”
His lawyer Saphizhat Gusnieva says the case is “serious” and that he is “scared” and has “suffered.” Razumilov is now accusing Apple, whose CEO is gay, of “manipulatively pushing [him] toward homosexuality.”
He claims that he is suffering from “moral suffering and harm to mental health,” and is asking for one million rubles, or $15,000, in compensation. His complaint will be heard on October 17th.
