Advocacy Group Rips Apple For Anti-Gay App

An anti-gay app for the iPhone is creating a whirlwind of controversy as an advocacy group is imploring Apple to take it down.

Truth Wins Out, a gay rights group, has gone to the Internet to get Apple to take down a new iPhone app that promises to cure people of their homosexuality. The app is from religious group Exodus International, which is a self-described refuge for people looking for help in their journey out of homosexuality.

The anti-gay app has received a 4+ rating from Apple, which means it doesn't have objectionable content. However, Truth Wins Out begs to differ, saying Exodus is notorious for using scare tactics, misinformation, stereotypes and distortions of LGBT life to recruit clients.

If Apple does not respond, we will take steps to ensure that Apple meets the victims of 'ex-gay' ministries and learns how their lives were destroyed, said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen in a statement. 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.

Truth Wins Out has already collected 100,000 signatures against the app, in no more than a week's time. The therapy, offered by Exodus International, has been rejected by every major professional medical organization, says Truth Wins Out. The gay rights activist organization says by creating an iPhone app, Exodus is especially 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 families, Besen said.

It wouldn't be the first time Apple removed an app for being anti-gay. The Manhattan Declaration created an app, which highlighted its beliefs against gay marriage. After only 7,500 signatures, Truth Wins Out said Apple removed the app, and it must do the same here.

Apple doesn't allow racist or anti-Semitic apps in its store, yet it gives the green light to an app written by an anti-gay extremist group that targets vulnerable sexual-minority youth with the message that they are 'sinful' and 'perverse,' Truth Wins Out's director of communications and development John Becker said in a statement. This is a double standard that should not stand.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.