"There's an app for that", "curing" homosexuality style

• Zid wrote on 2011-03-22 14:58

  Quote from Yahoo! News:

  The catchphrase coined by Apple and their advertising gurus to sell iPhones and iPads has become so ubiquitous that it's even been parodied on Sesame Street. Still, few would have ever thought that the tech giant—which, like many other Silicon Valley concerns, boasts a progressive profile on many cultural issues, and extends domestic-partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees—would condone an app that purports to "cure" homosexuality. It would seem an even greater stretch for Apple and company founder and CEO Steve Jobs to make such an application available through its iTunes store.
  
  Yet the app—by a ministry group called Exodus International—is right there, along the thousands of other iPhone apps available to plugged in Apple users. And this appears to be the point at which many of Apple's cultish fans—including plenty of gay activists—are drawing the line. No, they say: There's not actually an app for that.
  
  The Exodus ministry seeks to promote the "ex-gay" movement—promulgating the testimony of people who claim to have been cured of homosexuality through Christ. The target audience for the smart-phone app, its makers say, are "homosexual strugglers." The idea is to teach gay people that they have a choice when it comes to their sexuality, a choice to choose "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus."
  
  Of course, providing a tech platform for a particular spiritual or ideological movement doesn't signify an endorsement of its point of view. At the same time, however, as Gawker's Ryan Tate noted during an earlier controversy over a gay-themed app, "every time Apple approves an app, it implies moral endorsement of the content of that app."
  
  And since average Apple user is younger and more culturally tolerant of homosexuality, word of the Exodus app has sparked a fast-growing protest. As of this writing, more than 100,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling on Apple to abolish it. What's more, some who've purchased it are somewhat baffled by it.
  
  Writes the Atlantic's Nicholas Jackson:
  
  "So I downloaded the (free) app, which was launched on March 8. A giant resource bank, the app contains lists of events, videos and news stories that are carefully curated to reflect the mission of Exodus International, which states that individuals can 'grow into heterosexuality.' Nothing available on the app would lead me to question my homosexuality, but maybe I'm not fictile enough."
  
  Perhaps the time is ripe for a market solution. Surely, engineers for a competing smart phone, like the Droid, are hard at work preparing to launch a more effective and intuitive app curing people of their straightness?

  
  
  Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110321/ts_yblog_thelookout/apple-steve-jobs-under-fire-for-approving-app-that-claims-to-cure-homosexuality
  
  Petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-that-apple-remove-ex-gay-iphone-app#?opt_new=t&opt_fb=f
  
  App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exodus-international/id418794954?mt=8
  
  This is not really news, but I don't know where else to put this, so...
• Oizen wrote on 2011-03-22 15:02
  tl;dr for bean rua. :(
• Zid wrote on 2011-03-22 15:05

  Quote from OizenX;380869:

  tl;dr for bean rua. :(

  
  
  "Ex-gay" organization publishes an "ex-gay" app for the iPhone to turn homosexual people into heterosexual people through their view of Christianity. Said app is approved by Apple with a 4+ rating.
  
  News article describes public backlash.
• Oizen wrote on 2011-03-22 15:18
  Jesus loves all people.
  
  Except the gay people.
• Adelynn wrote on 2011-03-22 15:26
  S>ex-stupid app.
• Cynic wrote on 2011-03-22 16:28
  Yet another reason to hate Christians.
  They just love piling it on, don't they? Though I pity them for not knowing it's something you can't 'cure'.
• Sleeperdial wrote on 2011-03-22 18:07

  Quote from Cynic;380892:

  Yet another reason to hate Christians.
  They just love piling it on, don't they? Though I pity them for not knowing it's something you can't 'cure'.

  
  
  I've officially given up on Christians....
• Cynic wrote on 2011-03-22 18:11

  Quote from Sleeperdial;380931:

  I've officially given up on Christians....

  
  
  Right? There are a few I know of that aren't idiots and actually give them a good name, but man.. the majority just.. ugh.
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2011-03-22 18:51
  At least they're not condoning gay slaughter~ :rolleyes:
  
  
  But actually I'd take a "converted homosexual" over a "sucidical and desperate homosexual" any day. Deplorable that I have to... however I believe these gay-converters add the littlest to that circumstance.
• Aikuna wrote on 2011-03-22 19:30
  I feel like anyone that's "converted" to homosexuality has just mastered lying to themselves; I really don't believe your sexuality is something in your power to choose, especially when in many cases it'd be easier or make more sense to be straight. Sure, not being straight is more accepted now than it used to be, but there's still a lot of grief in the world over it. >.<
  
  As for the app...I think it's kinda unfair to say Apple condones it just 'cause it's in the store. It's just...there, just like books are in a library to read even if we don't like it or they say things that aren't smart.
• Akemii wrote on 2011-03-22 19:32
  I don't understand why people just can't leave others alone. Why should they care what other people do? Like seriously. You'd think they'd have the "I'm not going to hell, they are" mindset and just not care what others do.
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2011-03-22 19:33
  Didn't all apps have to be approved by Apple?
• Chiyuri wrote on 2011-03-22 19:42
  *Face Palm*
  
  
  *Leave thread*
• Akemii wrote on 2011-03-22 19:47

  Quote from Sumpfkraut;380984:

  Didn't all apps have to be approved by Apple?

  
  Yes. That's one of th things that is annoying about this. It was approved anyways.
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2011-03-22 19:50

  Quote from Pride;380996:

  Yes. That's one of th things that is annoying about this. It was approved anyways.

  
  Yes, I was asking in response to them who posted before you, something with A. Thanks for the info.