(Weekly Column)
What is Apple up to? The company has remained bizarrely silent in failing to address the exploding controversy over Exodus International’s new “ex-gay” iPhone app.
My organization, Truth Wins Out, launched a Change.org petition that has gathered 145,000 signatures asking Apple to dump the “pray away the gay” technology. Yet, the company persists in burying its head in the sand. The LGBT community and progressives are signing in droves because they feel betrayed by a beloved brand. Indeed, those behind this campaign are working off of Apple computers, iPhones, and iPads.
We hope that Apple wakes up and abandons its ‘bury-head-in-sand’ approach. The company needs to understand that disenchantment and protests are going to escalate if the app is not removed. It is bewildering that Apple would risk tarnishing its image and alienating its most faithful customers.
Those in favor of the app argue that Exodus has a right to free speech. However, Apple is a private company and not a government, meaning that they are free to serve as the gatekeeper, deciding who gets to use their technology to disseminate messages. Saying that nixing Exodus’ app is a violation of free speech is as absurd as saying that crooners booted off American Idol are having their free speech rights violated.
In fact, each day, Apple “auditions” new apps and many are rejected based on the company’s guidelines. There are even websites for software developers to complain about their proposed app getting the shaft. Given this reality, what basis does Exodus have to claim that they deserve an app? It certainly isn’t Apple’s own policies.
Apple’s guidelines for developers state “applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind [...] or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod Touch users…Any app that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harm’s way will be rejected.”
By every objective measure Exodus fails to meet these standards. Is it not “objectionable” when the group hosts a television show that repeatedly calls LGBT people “sexually broken” and “perverse”? Is it not defamatory when Exodus says, “homosexuality will make your heart sick?”
And how do Apple executives rationalize this statement from Exodus president Alan Chambers: “One of the many evils this world has to offer is the sin of homosexuality. Satan, the enemy, is using people to further his agenda to destroy the Kingdom of God and as many souls as he can.”
And what about Chambers’ bashing of gay Christians when he falsely spews, “In my opinion the problem with being a gay Christian is that gay comes first and takes center stage. God won’t share His throne with anyone or anything.”
Exodus also fails to meet Apple’s standards because the organization is quite explicit when it comes to sex. On the Exodus Students blog it asks middle school students, “So how could one be able to masturbate without bringing a relational dynamic into it – most often in the form of fantasy or pornography?” Didn’t Jocelyn Elders get fired as United States Surgeon General for saying something much milder about this topic?
Additionally, Exodus does not meet Apple’s standards when it comes to banning apps that “contain false, fraudulent or misleading representations.” Earlier this week, for example, University of Minnesota Researcher Dr. Gary Remafedi asked Apple to remove Exodus’ app because the group distorted his work in an effort to smear LGBT people.
This transgression alone should have been enough for Apple to put the kibosh on Exodus’ misleading product. Yet, the company is, for some reason, giving a pass to a virulently anti-gay organization that is glaringly and flagrantly violating its own policies.
Apple has a responsibility to explain what the heck is going on. Why is this hate group receiving preferential treatment, when countless other apps that were infinitely less offensive did not pass muster?
Finally, the most astounding part of this entire fight is Exodus International’s remarkably dishonest defense. The group is disingenuously claiming that opponents are distorting their position.
“In no way shape or form is our message about trying to cure or do we try to promote that type of methodology or message,” Jeff Buchanan, Exodus International’s Senior Director of Church Equipping & Student Ministries, told The Christian Post.
Has Buchanan not seen his own group’s billboards that claim, “Change is Possible” or “The Truth Brought Freedom?” Is he so clueless as to be unaware of Exodus’ motto, “Freedom from homosexuality through Jesus Christ?”
Apple needs to get its act together and answer some very tough questions. The company’s enforcement of its app standards is simply inconsistent and needs to be clarified. But no matter how one reads the current policy, Exodus fails to make the cut.
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You don’t know what Apple is receiving by the way of (fraudulent) threats of law suits from Exodus’s lawyers. This is why I am trying to tell you, Ramafedi’s attorney should be sending Apple’s legal department a cease and desist letter – that ends with something to this effect “If this product is not removed from the market within the next 24 hours, I shall commence steps towards filing an action against against Apple.” If Ramafedi doesn’t take legal action now, Exodus will continue abusing his research in propagandistic hate speech. Keep the pressure on, Wayne!
Has anyone else been unable to find the Exodus International app in the app store today??
Yes, I was just trying to access it too and it looks like they pulled it. It says “not available in the US”.
We’re aware and I’m on the phone with Apple trying to get confirmation of what exactly is going on. Stay tuned.
RIGHT ON!!!
Truth Wins Out…the anti-truth agency. Why are you so against the non-controversial fact that same sex attraction is environmentally influenced and mutable? Your whole crusade is an abomination. Let people change if they want to! What’s it to you? Mind your own business. And don’t give me your same ole BS that change is impossible. It’s very possible and people should be able to pursue it without your ridiculous shaming.
So, esp, you are claiming that you could be homosexual if you decided to? After all, you said that change is possible.
esp, “mutable”? Where’s your proof on that. Also, where’s your proof that your claim which completely misunderstands and misrepresents the available data is “non-controversial”.
Does it seem to anyone else that people must be being directed here–perhaps from the Exodus or FRC websites to just make single posts that ignore and have nothing to do with the subjects at hand?
Esp, your funny! You remind me of a racist I knew who honestly believed that deep down, we all “Just know” that black people are inferior….so why can’t we just admit it? since is ‘non-controversial”
LOL
PS Change is NOT possible. Read up on the guys who founded Exodus. They ended up a couple. We are all as we were made to be. Us, them, me, you, everyone.
Deal with it.
Daniel, I think you may have nailed it on the head about the single, nonsense posters. I have a pal and a gal pal or two who works for one of the affiliated “recovery” groups, mainly to quietly help (thankfully with some notable individual success stories) people caught in the “therapy”. They tell me that while there is a tiny bit of “well, at least some will see us as victims and maybe send some cash” that it is REALLY staring to dawn on them that they are now classes with NAZI’s and Klansmen in the eyes of society.
WE see them as pathetic and sad and what they are, but, when you live in a “fundy colored” insulated world of echo chamber, conservative sermons on Sunday, “preaching” yourselves to the sad older parents at traveling “pray away the gay” meetings, and read your own literature, watch only “conservative Christian” entertainment, read only “conservative Christian” books, etc, etc. it is easy for them to NOT fully realize that society, which may well have (with discomfort) accepted, even applauded quietly, their work 30 years ago, or even 20 or 10 in some places, now sees them as self deluded fanatical losers.
for some of them, as hard at this may be for us to believe, this is a true surprise and shock! And even the old saw that “the world hates us for doing (sic) Gods work” (which they then have to square with more and more churches, by their own admission, saying “no thanks” to them.
IF they were not so…pathetic, one could almost feel pity for them.
pardon…last sentence abou the old saw about “doing (sic) Gods work” should have pointed out that even this no longer offers much comfort to them, when every few months another major denomination moves towards greater acceptance of their GLBT members and clergy.
“esp” — We aren’t stopping people from changing. Ex-gay therapy does that all by itself.
Sorry everyone, but sexual attractions are mutable. People can change. Might be difficult, but not impossible. Learn to accept that. And stop bothering people who want to change on their own volition.
People most certainly are not born gay. I don’t think any reasonable scientist or psychologist would disagree about that. Genes may play a role but it’s probably minor compared to environmental influence. That’s why gays always say “I’ve know my whole life” when they really mean “I’ve known since I was 8″. A lot of psychological development goes on in those first 5-10 years.
[...] and antiscience advice on Exodus’ web site — are leaping at the opportunity to defend a special right among Christian Rightists to force Apple to violate its guidelines and carry apps that undermine [...]
Esp, “ex-gay” ministries are a bad joke as is the “reparative therapy” they espouse. Many, many, people have come out of these programs damaged mentally and emotionally. Why? All because people like you cannot deal with the thought of happy well-functioning gay people. I am happy beyond words that this app has been pulled.
I don’t find TWO objective.
Bigoted ? Homophobic ? Doe’s those labels fits exodus ? Hardly.
Change in sexuality has been documented many decades ago. Even my cousin, who was an openly gay male in france, changed suddenly, I don’t know why. He is an atheist, he was gay, and now he have a serious gf and enjoying sex with women.
I don’t agree with the idea that homosexuality is a mental illness. It’s not, it’s a developmental disorder.
It dosen’t men that gay people can’t live happy lives, they can.
But the problem is that there is many people who don’t want to live as gay, they are bashed by many people more than gay people.
They don’t want to live as gay, what’s the problem with that ?
If many are openly and happy gays, why do they want to impose their ideology, their beliefs on others ? It’s not their business.
Being gay is not a choice. A person can live as gay and happy. But some cannot, so why discouraging them ??
And about ex-gay programes and reparative therapy, they don’t produce any harm, any !! The stereotypes that we hear is ” suicidal, harmed etcc… ”
It depends on the will. If someone is willing 100% to change, he will be satisfied, if someone is half heartedly wanting to change, and his descision is incomplete, he won’t be satisfied, he will be frustrated.
The whole process is hard. Change happens in deed, but not for everyone.
I’m not a religious person, i’m a neutral person.
Your cousin was bisexual. And yes, the labels fit Exodus perfectly, but you’re blind.
And scientific study has documented the harm of “reparative” therapy, but again, you are blind.
He wasn’t bisexual, did you lived with him to know him ?
I think that there is some people who are blind here, including you.
So continue to label and fight for your ” cause ” .
Me:
You are simply a pathetic propagandist. At this website we have videos of people harmed by Exodus. Today, we featured testimony from Peterson Toscano who was harmed by Exodus.
Are you calling these people liars? Shame on you.
I was once member in a support group of people who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
There was a therapist who have a very high reputation, i think that he his DR. philipson.
One of the forms of treatment is ERP ( exposure and response prevention )
The success of treatment was about 33% .
Those who didn’t achieved success, their case will be worse, because the obsessive thoughts will be stronger and stronger.
Why those people aren”t in videos to claim that ERP is harmful ? that success is not 100% ?
I said that one man can be gay and happy, and there is people who can’t, they can’t be gay and happy, they have the right to pursue their goals.
Did i called them liars ? Please find a that word in my comments.
Being gay is not a choice, but changing is a choice.
The scientific data proves that homosexuality is not purely biological, and the human brain is so plastic and complex. I don’t find it unusual that science didn’t demonstrated an accurate cause to homosexuality.
But there is people who change, and there is people who fail.
It’s as simple as that.
I support gay people who want to be gay, and I support people who have ” unwanted same-sex attractions ” .
But I hate those who want to impose their ideas and points of views on others.
Another point, do you think that a homosexual person ( I say homosexual no bisexual) cannot fall in love with the opposite sex ?
It happened before, just because we are human beings and we don’t fall in love with the sex, but with human beings.
Hey me, wouldn’t you expect the president of Exodus, Alan Chambers, to be a shining example of “change.” He admits (to his credit) that he has not become heterosexual. He has also stated that it took nine months for his marriage to be consummated. And he has stood in front of a crowd and said, “the opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality, it’s holiness.” That’s not change. It’s wishful thinking, and delusion.
Has your allegedly straight cousin told his gf that he “used to be” gay? Most people don’t realize that the world is littered with broken marriages where one person desperately wanted to be straight, deceived the other person into marrying them, and then later it all falls apart. The world is also littered with marriages where one party (typically men) takes every opportunity to go out cruising for homosex on the side. I personally know (and know of) a staggering number of men in both categories. Just because you are able to achieve some level of heterosexual functioning doesn’t mean you are not a homosexual. And, yes, some people are bisexual.
The gay people who cannot seem to be happy as gay have simply internalized society’s anti-gay attitudes. And the nature of many of them is probably to be social conformists, in general The proper solution is therapy that helps them accept themselves as they are, not seeking change that is impossible to achieve for all practical purposes.
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Regarding people with OCD: I think it’s safe to say that OCD impairs basic functioning in life and limits potential – in school, jobs, and relationships, etc.. Being gay involves no such issues. Gay people function at least as well as everyone else in every aspect of life.
And to expand on my saying, “Gay people function at least as well as everyone else in every aspect of life:”
I don’t think that was always true for a many of us, and it’s because in the past, gays were living in a universally hostile society, and even if no one knew you were gay, it was extremely stressful and energy-sapping to keep the reality a secret. The climate today is much different.
How do I know this? Because I lived it:
I first became aware in about 1957 that I was attracted exclusively to guys. I saw no other examples of gay people, no written material, and never heard anyone talk about the issue. For all I knew I was the only person in the world who felt those attractions. Fast-forward to 1969 when I crept out of the closet after college, and began having homo relationships (while keeping it a deep secret from all the straight people in my life). It has been no more that about 15 years since I began to realize the degree to which living within a hostile society had impaired my functioning. And I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my wonderful partner of nearly 30 years.
So when people insist that Exodus performs a valuable service, sometimes I just want to say, “go f**k yourselves, you ignorant b******s.”
“Being gay is not a choice. A person can live as gay and happy. But some cannot, so why discouraging them ??”
So your solution is not to try and change the external attitudes that make them uncomfortable with being gay, but to try and change who they are, even though this only opens people up to extreme disappointment and self-shaming when it inevitably doesn’t work?
Are you sure you thought this through?
The author in the artilce says that Apples criteria for accepting/rejecting and app includes “Any app that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harm’s way will be rejected.” Heck with that definition there would be no apps for surely some gorup of people would be offend over just anything.
No, not really, Mark, but thanks for trying.