'Is My Son Gay?': French Android App 'Mon Fils Est-Il Gay?' Causes Controversy

Does your son like football? Does he listen to music divas? Does he have a pierced nose? Your answers to questions like these -- and about $2.69 -- will tell you whether or not your son is gay.

At least that's what the makers of one French mobile app want you to think.

"Mon fils est-il gay?", or, "Is My Son Gay?" is being sold on Google's Android Market, and is, as would be expected, stirring up quite a bit of controversy in France.

Stéphane Corbin, a spokesperson for the LGBT Federation, told Rue89 that the app is "absolutely ridiculous."

"When we look at the clichés and the prejudices involved, it could knock you on your back," he said, according to a HuffPost translation. "What's tragic is that they find themselves in exactly the field of homophobia by referring to the appearance ... Gender questions are much more complex."

But Christophe De Baran, the creator of the app, said in an email to Rue89 that the purpose of the application is to help mothers accept their sons' sexual orientation and that it shouldn't be taken too seriously.

"This application was designed with a light-hearted approach," De Baran wrote to Rue89, according to a HuffPost translation. "It's not based on any scientific approach. It follows the principle that certain kinds of behavior, certain social and domestic contexts might sometimes be determinant or or might reveal a hidden homosexuality, or might not."

The Local, an English-language news site in France, reports that Google France is currently reviewing the app.

So far, the app doesn't seem to be very popular. The French version has only five reviews and the English version has yet to receive any feedback on the Marketplace.

This isn't the first controversial mobile application to make claims about the gay community. In March, Apple removed an app from iTunes that the makers said used biblical teaching to help gay individuals become heterosexual.

Just weeks ago, Apple removed "Jew or Not Jew?", an app that allowed users to guess whether or not a celebrity is Jewish, from its French App Store. Like "Mon fils est-il gay?", "Jew or Not Jew" was designed by a French company.

Comments

[lambdin1]

11:09 AM on 10/28/2011

As a gay man, I'm insulted! Greed is now shown on a screen! Lets see if I can put out an app that discovers if you are UGLY!?! Greed simple greed is the motivator for any application!

[huffpodc]

11:05 AM on 09/30/2011

it's targeted at women who need a man to reassure them that they're safe and secure just like when daddy was there. They deserve themselves. They deserve the kind of men this app would select as not being gay. It clears the field for the rest of us... C'est pour les connasses stupides.

[Rangergirl]

02:19 PM on 09/29/2011

This app should be pulled it is stereotypical and dangerous

[All Seeing Guy]

10:49 PM on 09/28/2011

There's a few thousand bible thumpers out there who won't treat the results with such a light-hearted response.

[Sebastian Wang]

02:05 PM on 09/28/2011

All they really need is one question: "Does your son like to have sex with men?"
After all, there's no real way of knowing.

[cliffhammond]

10:25 PM on 09/28/2011

Would you ask your son if he likes to have sex with women? Of course not; but you might inquire about his relationships. When people think about gay people, they seem to automatically think about sexual behavior instead of the affectional relationships that nurture all humans no matter what their orientation. I would only ask you to think about this and to examine your underlying assumptions and prejudices.

[Jeff Forsythe]

10:46 AM on 09/28/2011

I think that in these difficult times, it is not easy for people to distinguish the difference between good and bad when its comes to such moral issues as premarital sex, drug abuse, gay rights, abortion, euthanasia, etc.
I consider myself very lucky because I practice Falun Gong, which allows me to know the difference between right and wrong and Falun Gong has answered and is still answering my many questions about life.
It is a free practice with tens of millions of practitioners Worldwide. Thank you.

[cliffhammond]

10:27 PM on 09/28/2011

So are they homophobic or not? You're being too indirect.

[Zarz]

01:53 PM on 09/29/2011

They are.

[UncleJimbo]

10:03 PM on 09/27/2011

My Parents Knew before I told them.....At 15 .....They really were't that Bothered and that was 1967!

[llisa]

04:14 AM on 09/28/2011

That's the way it should be. One of my daughter's friends who spent a lot of time at our house when he was in high school came out to us a few years ago, years after high school graduation. I told him I know, I had known when he was in high school--and he just started crying. He has put up with a lot (from his mother and step father and other relatives and classmates, etc.) and he was worried that we wouldn't like him anymore.

I didn't know that he thought we didn't know, or I would have told him much sooner that it was a non-issue with us and we love him.

[Sneedsnood]

09:44 PM on 09/27/2011

Those questions are based on ridiculous and outdated stereotypes. More appropriate questions that address today's gay men might include: Is your son a pro footbll player? Or, Is your son a Marine serving in Iraq?

[llisa]

04:15 AM on 09/28/2011

Or hey, just ask him. But first tell him that you love and respect him no matter what his answer is.

[cliffhammond]

10:31 PM on 09/28/2011

Or how about, "Is your son a Republican senator or evangelical preacher?" It's a sure sign there is "reaction formation" being deployed as a psychic defense mechanism.

[see-ellen2001]

06:49 PM on 09/27/2011

There's the related app: Am I In Denial that My Son Is Gay?

[nerdkill]

02:16 PM on 09/27/2011

and without these articles all of 7 people would ever see this app and then it would die in obscurity. can't wait for all the people asking for others to be tolerant demand that the app be taken off the market. if the dev is smart he'll make the app free and add support it with all the free press he's getting for such garbage.

[truth be told again]

02:41 PM on 09/27/2011

If you think Android isn't going to market the he11 out of this, you're incredibly naive.

Why should we be "tolerant" of bigotry in the first place?

[sergal stew]

08:19 PM on 09/28/2011

Because that's the true meaning of being tolerant?
It doesn't mean you like it.
And while this app is truly stupid it does no real harm and should not be censored.

This is only a media thing anyway... Android won't promote it in any way.

[truth be told again]

02:11 PM on 09/27/2011

Some parents would do well to develop gaydar.

[truth be told again]

02:08 PM on 09/27/2011

What is troubling is this: What happens if the answer to the question, "Is my son gay?" is "Yes."?

Do the parents then emulate the typical frightwinger repsonse and kick the child out of the house for being gay?

Why do so many parents just assume every child born is heterosexual in the first place?

[llisa]

04:16 AM on 09/28/2011

Excellent questions.

[RedBessRead]

01:24 PM on 09/27/2011

Want to know if your son is gay - raise him in a supportive and accepting environment and wait for him to tell you.

And, so what. If he is, he is and it doesn't change anything.

Get rid of this app.

[truth be told again]

02:09 PM on 09/27/2011

Trouble is, it DOES change - a LOT - for some bigoted homophobic 'parents'.

[PBMac]

03:02 PM on 09/27/2011

Exactly.

[llisa]

04:17 AM on 09/28/2011

f and f. Excellent advice. I wish all parents would heed it.

[rbenjamin]

01:11 PM on 09/27/2011

You could ask him.

[Louise Aloft]

01:00 PM on 09/27/2011

what kind of parent would care?

[wyldthings]

01:21 PM on 09/27/2011

The kind of Parent that would understand that Gay youths are more at risk than most groups. The kind of parent that would be concerned his son might be bullied to the point of Suicide. In other words a GOOD PARENT.
Now if it was a conversion from gay to straight  I might have concerns but just wanting to be able to parent the right way is way O.K by me.

[Louise Aloft]

03:07 PM on 09/27/2011

if you're the type of parent that doesn't care whether your kid is gay or straight, your kid would be telling you of his own accord.
also, most parents can tell if their kids are being bullied whether the kids tell them or not, but needing to know this kind of issue is like giving justification to the bullies for bullying in the first place (ie. there must be some 'reason' for the bullying).

[truth be told again]

02:10 PM on 09/27/2011

Some rabidly 'religious' parents would want to know. Some of them would likely change their minds on abortion if they 'knew' early enough (if ya catch my drift).

[Louise Aloft]

04:30 PM on 09/27/2011

exactly.