Los Angeles – More than 107,000 people have signed a
petition demanding that Apple (NASD: AAPL) remove an app from its App Store for the iPhone,
from an organization that claims to be able to help individuals "recover
from homosexuality." Exodus International claims to offer "freedom
from homosexuality through the power of Jesus," via its own
"reparative therapy," and made similar claims on an app for the
iPhone it released on Feb. 15.
"Apple doesn’t allow racist or anti-Semitic
apps in its app store, yet it is giving the green light to an app targeting
vulnerable LGBT youth with the message that their sexual orientation is a ‘sin
that will make your heart sick’ and a ‘counterfeit,’" wrote Truth Wins
Out, a non-profit founded "to counteract the ‘ex-gay’ myth," in
its petition posted on Change.org.
"This is a double standard that has the
potential for devastating consequences."
Today, Univ. of Minnesota researcher
Dr. Gary Remafedi also wrote a letter to Apple’s Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, asking
the Exodus app be deleted because "it erroneously cites my research in
support of claims that homosexuality can be changed."
Both CNET and
Mashable note that Apple removed a similar anti-gay app from its App Store last
year from the Manhattan Declaration. Apple said at that time that the app
"violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of
people."
So far, Apple has not commented for stories on, or otherwise responded to the current matter.
Related Links:
http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/2011/03/15393/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20045447-37.html
http://mashable.com/2011/03/21/apple-gay-cure-app
http://tinyurl.com/4o92ty7 (Change.org
petition)
