Apple under fire for allowing app that 'cures' homosexuality

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110321/ts_yblog_thelookout/apple-steve-jobs-under-fire-for-approving-app-that-claims-to-cure-homosexuality

"Apple, Steve Jobs under fire for approving app that claims to cure homosexuality"

"There's an app for that."

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 though 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.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

under fire... ha.

yeah, because that's an important thing to b1tch about.

[Dan and Judy 614]

I have a friend who needs that app. How do I............. I mean how does he get one?

[Captain Hammer 113]

I have a friend who needs that app. How do I............. I mean how does he get one?

[Danno 1,228]

Of course should the App be censored, good ole http://narth.com is still there.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Of course should the App be censored, good ole http://narth.com is still there.

Do you have a Homophobic folder in your browser favorites?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Oh boy

[justashooter 430]

don't need no "app" for dat. **'s ain't got no disease, or "condition".

they's just people who's made a counterproductive choice and don't like being held responsible for what they choose to do.

[Danno 1,228]

Do you have a Homophobic folder in your browser favorites?

Actually it's titled "#######-stuff" but it has little to do with Phobia... more to do with Fun facts.

[Peikko 1,575]

don't need no "app" for dat. **'s ain't got no disease, or "condition".

they's just people who's made a counterproductive choice and don't like being held responsible for what they choose to do.

Who are they? What is the choice 'they' have made and in what way is it counterproductive? What or who is holding 'them' responsible for making this 'choice'?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

The fear is humorous.

[Dan and Judy 614]

Who are they? What is the choice 'they' have made and in what way is it counterproductive? What or who is holding 'them' responsible for making this 'choice'?

I think non-productive would be more accurate

[mawilson 2,133]

I think non-productive would be more accurate

Why is it non- or counter-productive?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I have a friend who needs that app. How do I............. I mean how does he get one?

For the men, it is photos of FSU women. For the women...no cure for the women.

don't need no "app" for dat. **'s ain't got no disease, or "condition".

they's just people who's made a counterproductive choice and don't like being held responsible for what they choose to do.

Then again, who cares? No need to pass up good jokes though.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

If I was a chick I'd be the biggest lesbian of them all.