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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.
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."
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.
Yep:
Atheist Pocket Debater:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atheist-pocket-debater/id356411065?mt=8
BibleThumper:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/biblethumper/id334558214?mt=
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...
If reading the Bible doesn't turn people into atheists, no app is going to do it.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
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."
Sometimes there's a fine line between "bashing" and "detracting" but it's there. An app that encourages gay people to not be gay is hardly bashing, even if you don't approve of the underlying assumptions.
You mean an app based on the idea that homosexuality is immoral, and that such people need to be "fixed" is not gay bashing??
I'll also quote the summary prior to my response:
What you and Truth Wins Out seem to desire is censorship. I really don't understand that, at all.
It's really simple. If a homosexual person does not feel that homosexuality is wrong and does not view it as a problem that needs to be fixed, his or her option is ridiculously easy and requires zero effort: don't purchase/download this app.
If a homosexual person does believe, for religious reasons, that homosexuality is wrong, why would you stop them from downloading this app by having it censored and removed from the App Store? Is this not a personal decision for that person to make? Do they not have the right to practice the religion of their choice? Or must they obtain your approval first?
How does the presence of this app prevent someone from living the lifestyle of their choice? Simple answer: it doesn't. The effort to censor this app is far worse than anything the censors would find wrong with it. It's also an insult to the homosexual people you purport to protect. You're basically suggesting that their sexual orientation is so flimsy and non-genuine that it would be threatened by the mere option of downloading this app.
Sadly, to many people "freedom" means "the freedom to do what I would approve of". I reject this notion. So long as we are talking about consenting adults, I believe people should be free to do whatever they like. It doesn't matter whether I would do the same, whether I approve of the practice, whether I endorse and support it. Anything else is just a thinly-veiled desire to control other people and force them to be like yourself. What a cowardly and pathetic desire.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
You mean an app based on the idea that homosexuality is immoral, and that such people need to be "fixed" is not gay bashing??
Would you be equally against someone releasing an app to try and stop people from smoking?
Either everyone is entitled to their beliefs and practices as long as they are not harming other people, or they aren't--at least that's how it's supposed to be in America.
If I stand here and say "I think homosexuality is wrong", does it harm you? No. To (probably poorly) quote Jefferson: It neither picks your pocket or breaks your leg.
There's no place like
Should every store that does not sell everything be expecting a law suit?
This is America. Everyone should always be expecting a lawsuit.
"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.
So would a god bashing app be allowed?
I would imagine so. Frankly, people should be applauding the fact that Apple has way loosened up on their editorial stance of the App Store and have started letting things in that are more risque and potentially offensive. It's not like they automatically install apps to your phone, you still have to go out and download it yourself. And this is certainly not an app that you will find in an Apple commercial (although I think that would be hilarious), but that doesn't mean they should have rejected it.
Freedom of speech goes in every direction, people. I know many of you think that freedom of speech should only count for what YOU think and what YOU have to say, but it doesn't. Sorry.
(I completely respect the gay community and disagree with the 'Gay Cure' app, but censorship of any kind is an evil thing that only leads to more censorship. Freedom for all is more important than emotional comfort for some.)
There are 2.1 billion "Christians" on the planet.
Some are Mormons who believe that if they are married in a Mormon temple, they can enter the third level of heaven and become God themselves, creating planets of billions of worshipers.
Some are Catholics, and believe in intercessory prayer, where you can't pray directly to God, even though that contradicts the entire Bible. You are dependent wholly on the Church still. You get forgiveness through the Church (not God) and must confess sins to a priest.
Some are Christian Scientists who believe 95% of the Bible is a lie, and that we don't really exist. Sin is going to a hospital, because it is believing the lie that physical reality is real.
Some are the Westboro Baptist Church, who ignore 99% of the Bible, and focus largely on 1 verse which is recorded only for historical purposes, which was a law the Jews made for themselves (as opposed to a commandment from God). But frankly, they believe it is their duty to celebrate the death of innocent people because God wants everyone to die for tolerating homosexuality. Every American in particular really needs to die, except for Westboro Baptist Church.
Some, like Trinity Broadcasting believe in bilking innocent people out money. Tons of televangelists seem to believe that you can tell people that you will die unless people give you millions, because God commanded it. And those millions better go into your pocket directly.
And some Christians believe in peace, forgiveness, tolerance, decency, trying to follow Christ's example, and non-judgementalism.
Lumping all 2.1 billion Christians on the earth in one bucket isn't easy.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
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.