Should Apple scrap a 'gay cure' app?

Exodus International, an iPhone app created by a Christian group of the same name, claims that homosexuality is a choice — and promises that the app's users will gain "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus." Apple approved the Exodus International app, rating it four out of five stars which indicates "no objectionable content," although the app calls homosexuality "satanic." That decision spurred a backlash from gay-rights groups, who want the app taken off the market. Should Apple comply?

Apple needs to dump this app now: The "hateful and bigoted" Exodus app certainly qualifies as "offensive material," says nonprofit Truth Wins Out, which organized a petition drive against Apple. Every reliable medical organization has denounced so-called "reparative therapy" for homosexuality, and it's "particularly galling" that Exodus is marketing its app to young people, given the wave of recent LGBT suicides. Apple bans racist content; why the "double standard"?

"Gay rights petition: Demand that Apple remove 'ex-gay' iPhone app"

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Indeed, Apple is being terribly inconsistent: Famously "stringent," Apple self-righteously blocks even slightly pornographic apps to "protect our minds from filth," says Jennifer Scott at IT Pro. And yet, "homophobia seems to pass muster." For a supposedly "forward-thinking company" to approve such a "horrific app... sickens me to the core."

"Apple, homophobia is worse than porn ok?"

It may be distasteful, but Apple shouldn't censor this app: "At the risk of putting myself at the center of a firestorm of disapproval," says Victoria Pynchon at Forbes, I have to say this isn't hate speech. It's "simply the expression of religious beliefs with which I, and many other people, disagree." While countless Americans — and many liberal churches — are rejecting such anti-gay ideas, it's not the job of Apple or any other company to "serve as our national gatekeeper" and silence such religious stances, no matter how outrageous.

"The internet, freedom of speech, and the anti-gay app"