Russian Man Sues Apple Claiming the Company Made him Gay

The meaning of frivolous lawsuit took on a life of its own last week when a Russian man sued Apple, contending the iPhone turned him gay. 

According to media reports, the resident of Russia is suing for £12,000, claiming in a lawsuit filed 20 September that he received "GayCoin" via an order of Bitcoin he had purchased. The GayCoin cryptocurrency came with a note stating: "Don't judge until you try." Apparently the Russian man took the advice to heart and decided to try out a same-sex relationship. He now has a boyfriend and doesn't know how to explain it to his parents. 

RELATED: APPLE IS SUING START-UP FOR CREATING 'PERFECT REPLICAS' OF IPHONE

Prejudices against homosexuality still loom large in Russia

In the lawsuit, the man who claims his life has been made worse and that he'll never be the same again, blamed Apple for pushing him "towards homosexuality through manipulation" and that the change has "caused me moral and mental harm." The court is expected to hear the lawsuit on 17 October, according to media reports. 

While Russia decriminalized homosexuality back in 1993, there is still widespread prejudices against gay people in the country. Just six years ago the country put a new law on the books that banned the spread of what the government called gay propaganda. 

In July Yelena Grigoryeva, an LGBT activist in Russia was found stabbed to death in bushes close to her home. The 41-year-old Russian woman had received death threats. It's not clear if her murder was linked to her activism, noted reports at the time. 

Apple is no stranger to lawsuits

The Russian man isn't the only one to sue the iPhone maker in recent months. A court in California just threw out a class-action lawsuit against Apple in which plaintiffs claimed Apple had misrepresented the screen size of the iPhone X, because the corners were rounded and a notch on the top for the camera. The lawsuit argued those two attributes make the screen smaller than 5.8 inches. Oakland, California, U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. put it this way during a hearing covered by Law360.com: “there doesn’t really seem to be anyone in America who seems to be concerned about it."