Apple has caved in to a small online group who demanded that it remove an app from its online store designed to help individuals struggling with same-sex attraction. As reported by NBC News, the pro-gay group Truth Wins Out launched an online petition drive to force Apple to block the app by the Dallas-based Living Hope Ministries, which exists, says its website, to “proclaim God’s truth as we journey with those who are seeking sexual and relational wholeness through a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.”
The petition attacked Apple as “peddling an outrageously offensive ‘ex-gay’ app that targets ‘Youth and Young Adults’ to change from gay-to-straight through prayer and therapy.” It claimed that the app “falsely portrays being gay as an ‘addiction,’‘sickness,’ and ‘sin,’” and noted that the American Psychiatric Association “warns that attempts to change one’s sexual orientation can lead to ‘anxiety, depression, and self-destructive behavior,’ including suicide” — which, incidentally, are risks that individuals facing any life-controlling addiction are forced to confront.
Shouted the petition: “Please demand that Apple immediately remove this bigoted and hateful app from its store.”
NBC News reported that Apple caved in to the petition with only 356 signers. “We thank Apple for exemplifying corporate responsibility and taking swift action to remove a dangerous app that stigmatizes and demeans LGBT people,” said Truth Wins Out spokesman Wayne Besen. “Ex-gay programs are consumer fraud and cause significant harm to the people they purport to help.”
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In its campaign, which includes attempts to force Amazon and Google to ban Living Hope Ministries as well, Truth Wins Out attacked the respected ministry as a “business that profits by peddling products that cause psychological pain to their clients, who are shamed into attending Living Hope. They promote a discredited form of therapy that is rejected by every respected medical and mental health organization.”
In response to Apple’s decision to pull his group’s app, Ricky Chalette, executive director of Living Hope Ministries, said that “regardless of their decision we will continue to make the app and our services available to those who seek them.”
As for the charges made by the ironically named “Truth Wins Out,” Chalette said that Living Hope is “a ministry that for nearly 30 years has helped individuals resolve their feelings they deem incongruent with their faith. We help people deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ through Bible study and accountability. We walk with them to align their lives with the teachings of Jesus Christ.”
The insistence by LGBT activists that homosexual individuals have no control over same-sex attraction is bogus, said Janet Boynes, a former lesbian who now helps others gain freedom from homosexuality through faith in Christ.
“Ministries like Living Hope and my own are regularly attacked by gay activists because of the dramatic impact we are having in helping men, women, and young people find their way out of the bondage of gay and lesbian lifestyles,” Boynes told The New American. “It is clear that the LGBTQ activist community is alarmed by our success, and is out to silence our efforts. But be advised: we will not be silenced or stopped, and we will not be moved. This is a great time to stand up for solid, faith-filled ministries like Living Hope, because they are helping many people discover the real truth about homosexuality, and find hope and healing through Christ.”
