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Apple's App Store Accepts 'Gay Cure' App
parallel_prankster writes "Apple is under fire for approving a controversial app created by a religious organization — Exodus International. The app seeks to help gay individuals become heterosexual. It received a '4' rating from Apple, which indicates the company considered the app to contain 'no objectionable material.' The new smartphone app was released last week and is now available through iTunes. Exodus International claims to be 'the world's largest ministry to individuals and families impacted by homosexuality.' A petition has been launched by Truth Wins Out, which describes itself as a non-profit organisation that fights anti-gay religious extremism on the change.org website, asking Steve Jobs to intervene to remove the app."
Considering Apple is gay.
So would a god bashing app be allowed?
Homosexual? There's an app for that!
How nice for them.
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Apple accepts this app and they're attacked for being anti-gay, supporting homophobia, etc... If Apple rejects this app, they'll be attacked for infringing on free speech, supporting a particular political agenda, etc... Either way, you're pissing customers off.
But all I feel is schadenfreude. They got themselves into this mess by imposing editorial control over the iPhone in the first place. They made their bed, now they get to lie in it.
"Stop using Apple products."
Anyone have a 'Religiousness Cure' app handy that can help people become atheist? Would be fun to watch the reactions when Apple approve that one...
I assume that you include the app's authors and publisher in this, yes? They take it quite seriously.
Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
So... an app designed to turn black people white and de-black-ify their speech and appearance would just be good natured fun too? Just curious.
Homosexuality is not a choice and is not a disease. It can no more be 'cured' than heterosexuality, or race, or eye color (you can put in colored contacts -- just like you can go into the closet -- but it doesn't change the underlying reality of your eye color -- or sexuality).
The app is ignorant and bigoted and offensive, as well as pushing an agenda based on hatered and lies. That honestly sounds like 'good natured fun' to you? Really?
I agree with you that the app is absurd. But I don't find it particularly hilarious, especially knowing the number of people damaged and even driven to suicide by anti-gay "ex-gay" programs. There's a real human cost here, and I just can't laugh at that.
It was wrong to censor the Mark Fiore app, it is wrong to deny porn apps, but since that's the path Apple have chosen to take, I'd also expect them to censor an app which implies someone's sexuality is a thing which can or should be 'cured'.
Apple should be supporting free speech, and if that were the case I would say that while I find the opinions of the app developer extremely unpleasant, I support their right to speak. But Apple aren't supporting free speech in general - if the conservative groups get censorship of content they find offensive, then the gay right groups damn well deserve the same treatment. By far the preferable option is to defend that which I despise just as strongly as that which I support, but the horse already bolted there.
It took awhile, but Apple is finally going to have to face the consequences for putting themselves in a position to choose what is and is not allowed to run on their devices. Next up expect a lawsuit because someone used an app that Apple approved for copyright infringement and then the snowball will really start to move.
It's funny to read the same people decry Apples appstore censorship appeal to Steve Jobs to remove the app on the basis.
Free Speech hurts doesn't it?
In the general population, depressing as it is, you are probably correct. Purchasers of trendy, high-end electronics, however, tend to skew towards the younger, richer, urban dwelling segment - even from a straightforward business perspective, this could quite easily go badly for Apple.
I'd also expect them to censor an app which implies someone's sexuality is a thing which can or should be 'cured'.
Why? What if a guy wants to change? Shouldn't he be free to try? Or should other people decide "The Right Choice" for him?
And maybe he can't be "cured", but maybe he can have a life that is closer to his preference. You'd deny him the opportunity to try?
Your last line really says it all about Apple, that is all the point in this whole post. Apple tried to act like God, now they have to deal with God-sized issues.
But Apple can deny it if they don't agree with the given rating.
Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
The app is ignorant and bigoted and offensive, as well as pushing an agenda based on hatered and lies. That honestly sounds like 'good natured fun' to you? Really? I agree with you that the app is absurd. But I don't find it particularly hilarious, especially knowing the number of people damaged and even driven to suicide by anti-gay "ex-gay" programs. There's a real human cost here, and I just can't laugh at that.
Then don't download the app. Neither you nor anyone else has the right to decide what speech is damaging. The human cost for the suppression of free speech is far far greater than anything this app could possible do.
If this country oppressed free speech, then slavery may not have ended, Jim Crow may not have been defeated, and homosexuality may still have remained in the DSM as a mental disorder. At the time, speech proposing the end of any of those items was considered ignorant, offensive, and pushing an agenda based on lies.
Moralities change in this country, and what is considered offensive, dangerous, and disgusting evolve and change. But through it all, we retain the right to speech and that is--more than anything else--what allows us to evolve as a society. It is the thin layer separating us as a free society from an oppressed one where some self-imposed leader decides what is right and what is wrong.
The very concept flies in the face of generally accepted science - consider the backlash you would (rightly) get if we were talking about race rather than sexuality, for example. That said, I support people's right to do and say whatever the hell they like, however stupid and potentially psychologically harmful, as long as it doesn't directly infringe on the rights and freedoms of others, but Apple are the ones who declared themselves moral arbiters here, and that changes this situation drastically.
By rejecting apps they consider objectionable, they tacitly provide some level of endorsement to apps which are accepted; the have lost the right to claim that they disagree with anything that is said, because they have already taken steps to censor apps they disagree with, thus it is reasonable to deduce that if it is not censored, they do not disagree with it. By allowing this app into their curated "family friendly" store, they are declaring that the concept of homosexuality as a 'disease to be cured' is acceptable to them.
There are genetic predispositions for violence, alcoholism and all sorts of destructive behavior. Just because someone is genetically predisposed to act a certain way doesn't automatically make that behavior "normal" and ok. Religions have been in the business of persuading (or coercing) people to regulate their behavior for thousands of years, for better or for worse. I don't have enough information to judge this app in particular, but as a general rule it's certainly the right of religious institutions (or other well-meaning institutions in general) to help those who desire to take control over their impulses. You wouldn't call a dieting app bigoted because it suggests that there's something "wrong" with fat people (many times obesity is just a genetic condition, right?)
In the general population, depressing as it is, you are probably correct. Purchasers of trendy, high-end electronics, however, tend to skew towards the younger, richer, urban dwelling segment - even from a straightforward business perspective, this could quite easily go badly for Apple.
The real kicker is this -- Apple regularly rejects politically-sensitive apps, including a bunch of anti-Bush apps that people made during the last years of his presidency. One of the authors emailed The Steve about it. Jobs responded:
Even though my personal political leanings are democratic, I think this app will be offensive to roughly half our customers. What’s the point?
Steve
1. It doesn't sound like a "completely unrelated point" to me ...
2. You come across as a "the gentleman doth protest too much" type. Repressing?
As for your prior claim:
Do you have any proof that sexuality of any sort is a "preference"? Did you wake up one day and decide that you were going to be a straight sexually-repressed Catholic? Or did you become straight because Jesus, the Bible, or someone else told you it was the "right thing to do and you should put away those shameful lusts?
Or did you instead just realize that you instinctively preferred partners of the opposite sex? Same as gays and lesbians realize it despite all the social pressure to deny it?
If you don't want people criticizing your bigoty, JUST DON'T POST! It's that simple!
But since you put it out there, let's see some proof of your claim that heterosexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism, transsexuality, etc., are "nothing more than a preference."
Search for 2D-4D digit ratio. The growth rates of the index and ring finger are greatly influenced by prenatal hormones, which in turn are influenced by several factors, including birth order and the fetus's genes (which can both trigger and respond to hormones).
Testosterone usually makes the ring finger grow longer. There are ethnic variances, but generally, men's ring fingers are longer than their index fingers, gay men's ring fingers tend to be even longer (almost as long as their middle finger), and women's ring fingers tend to be shorter than their index fingers. M2F transsexuals often have the same 2D-4D digit ratio as women.
Testosterone and estrogen have influence on the development of the brain. The 2D-4D digit ratio gives us an indirect insight into what the uterine environment was like. So yes, there is evidence that sexual preference and gender identity are both something "you're born that way", unlike the people pushing this app, who claim it's a "lifestyle preference."
Now, they are going to accept the "Christian Cure" app as well, of course...
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
If they hadn't assigned themselves the rule of censor, nobody would complain about this. The app would still be offensive, but Apple would be assigned no blame for allowing its distribution. It would be held up as an example of universal freedom of speech.
Having decided to act as the official nanny of every Apple customer, though, they are fully responsible for the shit they let through, too. Don't let them off the hook for this.
Does it depend on which god? People believe in so many different ones! Also, why would it matter to bash some imaginary entity or entities? What about a Santa Claus bashing app?
When 1person suffers from a delusion,it is called insanity.When many people suffer from a delusion,it is called religion
Tell it to these researchers.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
I'm going to download it so I can write a review. Here's the preview:
"**** awesome app. I was blowing random dudes at gas stations but after 3 days of using this app I'm down to finding Justin Bieber attractive. With constant use, I hope by next week I'll like boobs."
If Apple (where Tim Cook, interim leader of Apple, has been outed as gay) removes this App for gay bashing, then all the religious apps will need to be removed to satisfy the atheists, "sexy" male oriented apps removed for the feminists and vice versa (although straight males seem to have an attachment to lesbian sexuality), and so on until the PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals, oh no, the first amendment died that day and that other PETA won in court), well those guys demand all the animal cruelty Apps be removed (i.e., it has an animal image therefore encourages animal exploitation. So no more Penguin Catapult or Angry Birds will remain. All in All after everyone is done objecting the Apple "App Store"(tm) will look as barren as the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 phone Applet Market.
...
Stop the political correctness overreaching because they're well beyond the point of affecting my individual rights. It is equal protection under the law, not the orwellian equal protection for all but some are more equal than others
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
We might have a real Ouroboros going on here.
Is it remotely possible that what goes on in the Premier App Store of the country then becomes a microcosm of what the country "decides it is thinking"? I'm not good enough at the math to do this next bit, but as a fast & rough theory, we're starting to get a Walled Garden set of laws. See that new law floating around Congress about Felonies for unauthorized streaming etc... with that level of hyperbole, I'm absolutely sure there can be a Rated G rider in it or following it that Hate Speech leads to Discontent and Discontent breeds Terrorism and therefore Hate Speech is a threat to National Security.
So what they do with the app can be spun into talk debates on both outcomes. If they allow it, they "support the Right Wing agenda", if they ban it, it is "Apple over-controlling the software-consumer interface" and more.
All of these partial examples are building into deep social pressure that is going to overflow soon.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I fail to see the correlation, especially since my ring finger is shorter than my index finger.
1) Do we really have to explain the difference between correlation and certainty? By your logic, you're neither male nor female, since *nobody* statistically has a shorter ring finger than index finger (men average a shorter index than ring, while women have the same size).
2) I seriously doubt you're using the measuring protocol, which involved a flatbed scanner and many techniques to control for measuring bias and how the hand is held outstretched.
Yes, statistically, gay men average higher testosterone levels. So do lesbians. Trans men (FTM) average significantly higher testosterone levels than cis women -- I've read around five studies on this, only one found a weak linkage, the rest found strong linkages, and one study showed an amazing half of all transmen with either PCOS or other hyperandrogenicity conditions. Trans women (MTF) do not average unusual estrogen or testosterone levels.
Note that these are all studies on adults; this says nothing about prenatal conditions.
Hormone levels do not seem to be the driving factor, however. The driving factor seems to lie in particular hypothalamic nuclei. As you may or may not know, the hypothalamus is a primitive structure that acts as the linkage between the brain and the endocrine system by controlling the pituitary (master) gland. There have been quite a few studies showing that it strongly affects sexuality, sexual behavior, and gender identity. INAH3 and BSTc in particular are amazingly strongly linked to gender identity. In various animal studies, inducing certain types of hypothalamic lesions has been shown to make ferrets exhibit homosexual behavior, while others have destroyed the ability for normal male copulatory behavior to occur in other lab animals.
There are a variety of other linkages that have been shown, such as responses to aromatic sex steroids, white matter microstructure, and whatnot. At the same time, this should not be interpreted as "MTFs are born with a female brain; FTMs are born with a male brain". Most of the brain structure matches their anatomical sex. There are just a few small regions that do not. However, once hormone replacement begins, the majority brain is radically restructured (even whole-brain size) in the direction of the target sex. Most TS brain structure linkages cannot be studied by MRIs, due to their tiny sizes (they require dissection); however, the changes from hormone replacement are very measurable on MRI images.
Man on crucifix terrorizes church, demands they eat his flesh and blood. Details at 11.
"You don't know any 'ex-gays' either. Because there is no such thing. There are only gay people who have gone back in the closet."
That would be a surprise to those I know. I was wrong on one point. I thought you were going to say they weren't gay in the first place, just experimenting.
Either way, the fact that it is a choice doesn't fit into your pro-homosexual agenda, so it can't be an option.
Good point. Doesn't he remember being asked before being born if he wanted to be attracted to guys or girls? I do. It was right after the questions asking what I want my favorite color to be and if I want to be right or left handed. I can't imagine why anyone would chose the gay option given how much more difficult it would make their life. Perhaps he just wasn't properly informed about his choices. I guess he can complain to his god about that.
Spot on. But it's important to remember that we're seeing a trivialization of government, despite the ongoing claims of government being "too big". There's an effort to make it meaningless, to put government itself behind the "walled garden" so that corporatists can do as they please. It's why I'm very leery of the "government is the problem" crowd, because throughout our history, if government has been a problem, it's been our problem. But the effort to destroy our institutions is coming from a level above governments. Destroy Social Security so all the enormous amounts of money it collects goes to the transnational banks. Destroy Medicare so the transnational insurance companies can get all that money. Destroy education and the legal system so the big corporations involved in "privatizing" schools, and prisons can collect all the money. There's a law in Michigan being passed by their GOP government to allow the governor to take any municipal government, any town, any county and just hand it over to "private industry" (which just happens to be the governor's buddies). There will still be taxes collected, but it will go into the hands of people beyond the control of citizens. After all, if you objected to say, Haliburton, how would you go about using the "free market" to bring them in line? How do you vote Haliburton or Bank of America or Goldman Sachs out of power?None of us are their customers.
TaoPhoenix, you're right on the mark with your "fast and rough theory". And the best we can hope for is that the "deep social pressure" overflows with enough force to disrupt their plans.
You are welcome on my lawn.
If you consider yourself gay and you can be re-educated to prefer hetero sex, then in reality you were bisexual, you are bisexual, and you will always be bisexual. So yes, a few people can be converted, those people that were actually bisexual to begin with. For those that are truly homosexual, this software should be about as successful as re-educating true heterosexuals to prefer gay sex, i.e. it ain't gonna happen!
And yes, insisting that the sexual preference that God created someone with is something that needs to be "cured" is offensive on many levels.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
The problem is that this speech isn't intended to cause damage to human beings. It's intended to help them overcome a problem that the organization considers to be seriously bad for them. That's much different from, say, encouraging gay-bashing, even though both of them start from the belief that being gay is bad.
Whether you agree with that or not is a separate question, but if you think they're wrong, they're not in the "Hate Speech" or "Falsely Shouting Fire In A Theater" category - they're in the "Preaching the Wrong Religion" category or maybe the "Quack Medical Advice" category.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
This one annoyed me when it started to become popular. Maybe we should just blame South Park for it, but it seems to be a juvenile thing about making yourself feel more secure about your masculinity and sexual orientation by using the alternative as an insult and as a tool for social pressure. Is it because boys that age are still scared of girls, and need extra social pressure to go out and interact with them to avoid being thought of as gay, and they'd rather be harassed as being gay, when they're know they're not, than for being immature, when they know they are?
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
That's not how personal preferences are formed. You don't have a genetic program that determines who you will have sex with. If there were a gay gene, they'd have found it by now. Sex is a creative process, and the people taking part in it decide how it will happen. Saying you don't choose to be gay is like saying you don't choose to be an engineer. I happen to be an engineer, but I don't believe that I had to be one, or that I could not put down my computer and pick a paintbrush or a hammer tomorrow if I wanted to.
Human development is a process of growth and exploration. It's not a deterministic process of like following a flow chart to your destination. People self-select who they are and who they will become. It is an amazing process that is shrouded in mystery. Telling someone that they are who they are, and they can't choose is as bad as telling them that it's wrong to be who they are because the did have a choice. Either is dis-empowering and unloving. Ultimately, you are responsible for who you are and who you will become. Where these Christian nut-jobs get screwed up they think it's their job to take that responsibility from the ones who rightly have it.
This app is misguided, but it's completely voluntary. If it's another step in people learning about who they are and taking the next step, I'm all for it, no matter how misguided it is.