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Strollerderby
Apple has given a controversial app the boot from its iTunes roster
Apple can fly its rainbow colors with pride once again.
After an app went on sale in iTunes by a religious group that claimed it could “heal” homosexuality, Apple has pulled it from their virtual shelves, saying it violated their policy by “being offensive to large groups of people.”
Nearly 150,000 people signed a petition in protest of the app, which was created by Exodus International. The religious group claims they “help” gay people through teachings in the Bible. However, Apple’s guidelines say inappropriate hate speech are in violation of their practices.
Will a "gay cure" app in iTunes spoil Apple for you?
I’m the first to admit that I’m a hypocrite. I don’t let my daughter have a piece of chocolate after dinner if I feel like she hasn’t had enough fruits and vegetables throughout the day, while I might have had nothing leafy or green in a week and eat a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies for lunch.
But she’s only 2 and I know that most of what I say and do along those lines only has a mild affect on her now, particularly because she’s all about her and doesn’t notice if I say one thing and do another. When she gets a little older, wiser and more aware of anyone but herself, I have no doubt I’ll work harder at setting a better example.
A company like Apple, on the other hand, can hardly get away with being two-faced because its audience is very tuned in to what it’s doing — literally. Which is why I find it rather shocking that they would allow a “gay cure” app to be sold on iTunes.
“America’s got a bad case of gayby fever,” writes Thomas Rogers at Salon, who says that the gay parenting boom is reshaping the American family.
According to a 2007 study, more than one in three lesbians has given birth and one in six gay men have fathered or adopted a child. The same studied showed that more than half of gay men and 41 percent of lesbians say they want to have a child.
Pop culture is keeping up with the trend. The Sundance hit “The Kids Are Alright,” starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as gay parents, is already getting buzz as the “must-see” movie of the summer. Hit TV show “Modern Family” features gay parents. Dan Savage’s memoir “The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant” has just been turned into an off-Broadway musical.
And celebrities such as Ricky Martin, Clay Aiken, Rosie O’Donnell, Melissa Etheridge serve as the unofficial spokespeople for gay parenthood. Continue reading »
Fred Phelps is planning to bring his hate show on the road to Mississippi to picket Constance McMillen’s high school graduation.
The students of Itawamba Regional High School and their parents sent Constance and her girlfriend to a fake prom last month while they partied at a secret prom thrown by parents.
After that stunt, someone might have thought those parents were the most immature bigots in the country. Phelps doesn’t want to let his rep slide, so he’s heading down to show them how pathetic adults can really be when they’re wrapped up in hate and attacking the vulnerable.
It’s a continual lament around our house — there are so few films that are suitable for young children. My mother-in-law likes to take her grandkids to the movies, but it’s hard to find ones that we feel are acceptable. Being animated doesn’t automatically mean a film is okay for the little ones. Even Disney films are, in our house, “for big kids” because of the violence and gender stereotypes. So when a state decides to offer a tax credit for “family-friendly” films being made there, it sounds like an idea long overdue.
I imagine that, as a child in the foster-care system, it would be difficult to trust anyone, be it case workers, foster parents, or pretty much any adult. But when an entire foster-care program throws up its hands and walks away, that’s got to hurt. Especially when the reason is as irrelevant and malicious as a personal opposition to same-sex marriage. That, however, is exactly what the Catholic Church has done in Washington D.C.
Despite the fact that virtually every professional organization agrees with the American Psychological Association when they say “efforts to change sexual orientation are unlikely to be successful and involve some risk of harm, contrary to the claims of SOCE practitioners and advocates,” high school students in the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland were given information from the group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays last week, claiming that sexual orientation is merely a choice. And a bad one at that.
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