Professor and Exodus International both claim misrepresentation
Photo: Jeff Buchanan, Senior Director of Church equipping & Student Ministries
Apple’s inclusion in its App Store of Christian group Exodus International’s “gay cure” app has caused controversy across the board. A petition on Change.org urging Apple to yank the app has nearly 130,000 signatures, and now a scientist whose work is cited in the app has written a letter to the company demanding the app’s removal.
Dr. Gary Remafedi, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and director of the Youth and AIDS Project, says his research is misinterpreted in the app. Remafedi said in a letter that the Exodus International app “erroneously cites my research in support of claims that homosexuality can be changed”. He continued, ‘Associating my work with that of the ex-gay ministry and other unfounded treatments is professionally injurious and grievous.”
Remafedi also said that the app twists his research to say that young people who are homosexual are just “confused” about their sexual orientation.
Exodus International responded to the controversy claiming that they, too, have been misrepresented.
“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,” said Jeff Buchanan, the organization’s senior director of church equipping and student ministries. “Really, the point of the application is to provide the material that is also on our Web site in smartphone format”, he went on to say. “We are helping those who have unwanted same-sex attractions. Those who are gay or identify themselves that way, in no way, shape, or form are we trying to speak to their position or trying to impose anything upon them.”
Exodus International describes itself as “the world’s largest ministry to individuals and families impacted by homosexuality.” The group says the app “is designed to be a useful resource for men, women, parents, students, and ministry leaders.” Its app, which carries the same name, has been given a 4+ rating from Apple, which means it has been found to contain “no objectionable content.”
There’s been a flood of disagreement with Apple’s assessment of the app. LGBT advocacy group Truth Wins Out (TWO), the organization behind the Change.org petition, said Exodus uses “scare tactics, misinformation, stereotypes, and distortions of LGBT life to recruit clients.” It calls Exodus’ message “hateful and bigoted.”
“If Apple does not respond, we will take steps to ensure that Apple meets with the victims of ex-gay ministries and learns how their lives were destroyed,” TWO executive director Wayne Besen said. “It is astounding that Apple would allow an app from an organization that promotes gay exorcisms, demonizes LGBT people, and is rejected by every respected mental-health association in America.”
Apple has been a strong ally to the LGBT community for years, even donating $100,000 to defeat California’s Proposition 8, the state’s ban on marriage equality. However, this isn’t the first time Apple has been caught in a skirmish over an app of this nature. Last year Apple removed an app based on the Manhattan Declaration, an anti-gay manifesto signed in 2009 by Christian and Catholic leaders that condemns same-sex unions as the “erosion of marriage.” Before its removal, this app also carried a 4+ rating. It was given the boot after a petition on change.org was signed by about 7,000 people.
So far, Apple has been silent on the matter and has not responded to several requests for comment.
Tuesday night, Apple complied with the request to remove the “gay cure” app. It is likely Apple felt the heat from the more than 150,000 people who signed the petition on change.org. An Apple spokesperson told PC Magazine “We removed the exodus international app from the App Store, because it violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people. Gawkers, Nick Denton pointed out “Every time Apple removes an app, it implies a moral endorsement of the content of that app.?Rejections, likewise, carry a moral condemnation. The right answer here is for Apple to support gay rights, but an even better answer would be if Apple could say it supports free speech and argument in the app store within the boundaries of the law and is not going to intervene in disputes over morality.”
