Exodus International, the notorious "ex-gay" organization, recently released an iPhone app that, according to its website, is "designed to be a useful resource for men, women, parents, students, and ministry leaders." The Exodus website further boasts that its app received a 4+ rating from Apple, meaning that it contains "no objectionable content."
No objectionable content? I beg to differ. Exodus fraudulently claims to offer "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ" and they use a hateful and bigoted message replete with scare tactics, misinformation, stereotypes and distortions of LGBT life to recruit clients. They endorse the use of so-called "reparative therapy" to "change" the sexual orientation of their clients, despite the fact that this form of "therapy" has been rejected by every major professional medical organization including the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Counseling Association. But reparative therapy isn't just bad medicine -- it's also very damaging to the self-esteem and mental health of its victims. Equally harmful is the practice of "spiritual warfare," which Exodus promotes as another weapon in the fight against homosexuality. Most people know this practice by a different name -- exorcism.
This new iPhone app is the latest move in Exodus' dangerous new strategy of targeting youth. In light of the recent wave of LGBT youth suicides, this tactic is particularly galling as it creates, legitimizes, and fuels the ostracism of LGBT youth by their peers and families. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, LGBT teens who experienced negative feedback from their family were eight times more likely to have attempted suicide, six times as vulnerable to severe depression, and three times more likely to use drugs. Interestingly, the Exodus app also purports to offer advice on "responding to bullying." I shudder to think what that advice might entail, considering Exodus' vocal opposition to LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying legislation.
But Exodus' anti-gay politics go far beyond bullying. Don Schmierer, an Exodus International board member, keynoted the March 2009 conference in Kampala, Uganda that stoked the fires of anti-gay hatred and culminated in that nation's infamous "Kill the Gays" Bill. Schmierer's attendance, with the public blessing of Exodus International, lent Exodus' name, fundamentalist credibility, and tacit approval to the conference's destructive message and the brutal legislative and vigilante violence that followed.
Apple doesn't allow racist or anti-Semitic apps in its app store, yet it gives the green light to an app written by an anti-gay extremist group that condones violence against LGBT people and targets vulnerable sexual-minority youth with the message that their sexual orientation is a "sin that will make your heart sick" and a "counterfeit." This is a double standard that has the potential for devastating consequences.
Apple needs to be told, loud and clear, that this is unacceptable. Stand with my organization, Truth Wins Out, and demand that the iTunes store stop supporting homophobia and remove the Exodus app.
Follow Wayne Besen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Truthwinsout
Wayne Besen: The Top 10 Ex-Gay Stories of 2011
Steve Jobs and Tim Cook also heard from Dr. Gary Remafedi, director of the Youth and AIDS Projects and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, asking them to remove it:
"[The app] erroneously cites my research (Remafedi 1992) in support of claims that homosexuality can be changed.
"Various professional organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have taken the position that homosexuality is not a mental or physical condition. Programs which aim to change sexual orientation have been opposed because they are unwarranted, ineffective, unethical, and harmful.
"Exodus's website features an article (Buchanan 2010) which makes erroneous statements and conclusions and attributes them to Remafedi (1992). Statements were made to the effect to that many teens are confused about their sexual orientation and that sexual orientation is amenable to change. Further, associating my work with that of the ex-gay ministry and other unfounded treatments is professionally injurious and grievous."
Dr. Remafedi told the Minnesota Star Tribune that "he has challenged many misrepresentations of his work over the years and has had '100 percent' success in doing so.
http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/858870-apple-pulls-gay-cure-app-from-app-store
http://gayrights.einnews.com/pr-news/355749-scientist-calls-on-apple-to-remove-ex-gay-app-that-distorts-his-research
http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/2011/03/15518/
(like invalidating their existence)
By allowing a group such as Exodus to promote hatred and intolerance towards lesbians and gays Apple has, through its silence, affirmed their right to do that. That makes Apple complicit in the oppression. They're a business, they have full control over what they put in their app store and they appear to have made a decision here.
It's also based on a concept of free speech as a one-way street; i.e., "I have a right to say/advocate what I want and you'd better shut up if you don't like it."
Apple has an extremely peculiar vetting procedure, that rejects a rather innocuous game (made by the Onion), a game that doesn't promote an anti-social agenda nor does it incite or prompt anyone to inflict real harm on other people and yet that same procedure allows an application to fly that has the propensity of causing actual distress for some people.
This why Apple is the guilty party in this story, they have a notoriously strict policy (and by the looks of it, convoluted and obscure) but they don't seem to apply it on all occasions. I don't know whether this is done deliberately, if it is there is good cause to drag them to court, on the other hand they are just messing up it is time to overhaul the process and make it more efficient.
On the flip side, had apple allowed all content to fly on their application store this wouldn't be an issue. We would just decry Exodus International and leave Apple in peace!
Correction:
"on the other hand, IF they are just messing up it is time to overhaul the process and make it more efficient."
I'd prefer that people who don't like it exercise their OWN right of free speech and speak up. Apparently, that's quite threatening.
And don't be intimidated by this pious invoking of "free speech." Apple is not the Federal Government (read the First Amendment people!) and those who are concerned about Exodus' and other cure-the-gay quacis' abuse of young people in particular have the same free speech right.
It's a matter of what you consider more important:
-- Opposition to and prevention of abuse of LGBT youth of
-- "epistemological perspective"
I'll absolutely rejoice with you when a petition successfully persuades a school to overturn its decision to take away the rights of a girl to start an LGBT club.
I won't stand for bullying and coercion of any kind, regardless of what the belief is.
And that's why I am afraid I can't stand with you on this. You're trying to shut down a free exchange of ideas, and that is intolerable. Please don't coerce this app into silence. Be creative with your activism, not destructive. If they come out with an app, you make a better one with your side of the truth. If this is falsity, let it be seen for what it is. But never stifle a free exchange of ideas.
If we are going to be scientifically precise in our diagnoses of the situation, the problem many Christians have with homosexuality is not at it's fundamental level an issue of hate or homophobia, but a difference of epistemological perspective -- particularly concerning what criteria justifies belief. Instead of trying to strong-arm those who disagree with you into silence, be constructive. Address the epistemological issues at hand. I think a discussion about what is shaping these beliefs would be far more productive than just shutting up the Other.
if it was a game running round bashing gays yeah
like apple has the time to read through every bit of religious crap submitted
screen caps look harmless
also blocking this app could be classed as religious persecution
it should not be in lifestyle category they need political & religious category's
make your own app if their is a demand don't complain get busy that tells you you will make more money if their is 1 000,000 gay iphone users & 1/4 download your $0.99 c app that's 125 thousand in your pocket gay people have more expendable income
Last time I checked the Quran the Torah or the Bible were not classified as instruments to sexually rehabilitate anybody.
"like apple has the time to read through every bit of religious crap submitted "
Yes they do! They have a policy for screening every application submission for its content before they list it on the application store. They have rejected a multitude of applications because they believe their content was inappropriate. I.e. you'll never see a porn application on the store because Steve Jobs quipped "you don't need porn on your phone".
That's not bad in itself, RIM also screens apps for their content as does Microsoft, however these two have a clear policy and they have been consistent! Apple's vetting process on the other hand is very vague and is applied whimsically!
"gay people have more expendable income"
....sigh*, grandiose assertion without a shred of evidence to back it up!
* Over twice as likely as national index to be professionals or managers
* Average household income over $85.4K
* Are 3.4 times more likely to have household income over $250K
* The 2000 Census showed gay men and lesbians living with partners in 99.3 percent
* Research shows 9 percent of urban populations are gay and lesbian
* Twice as likely to have graduated from college
* Gay men and lesbians go out more, buy more, have more disposable income and are extremely loyal consumers
* Gay and lesbian consumers purchase from companies/brands that advertise in gay media, deliver product messages in gay-specific advertising, support gay and lesbian community causes and are good to their own gay and lesbian employees
* Four times as likely to spend over $150 on long distance monthly
* Twice as likely to spend $250 on cellular service
* Over 90 percent took a domestic trip this year
* 60 percent took a foreign trip in the last three years
* 65 percent identify themselves as having to have the "latest"
* 68 percent upgrade to a product's latest model
* 77 percent "believe in indulging in themselves"
* 57 percent "prefer to buy top of the line"
* 59 percent buy themselves whatever they want
http://www.mygayweb.com/info/advertising/
As for Apple app evaluations, there is a difference between the Exodus app and the Exodus organization's past history. Apple can only judge the app and reject or approve it. Simply because Exodus may have done unethical things in past is not Apple's concern... They can only judge the app itself.
Oh, but some have sunk lower. They're defending this on the grounds of "free speech", which represents either being ignorant of the First Amendment of a hope that others are.