Truth Wins Out (TWO), an organization dedicated to “fighting anti-gay lies and the ex-gay myth,” recently launched a protest, claiming to have gathered over 100,000 signatures on Change.org against an "ex-gay"app currently offered on Apple's app store for it's iPhone, iPod touch & iPad products.
The app, created by international Christian ex-gay ministry, Exodus International, and available through
Apple’s online iTunes store, received a 4+ rating from Apple, meaning that it was found to contain no objectionable content. The app provides a gateway to the ministry’s news, blog, podcasts, and other social networking and resource materials. But the app has come under a hail of criticism from gay activists who have called the program “hateful and bigoted.” The activists are demanding the app be removed from Apple's store.
I admit that I am unfamiliar with this particular app, so I cannot speak intelligently as to it's content. But even if we assume the worst, and assume it is hateful and bigoted... So what? Isn't this the United States? Are we not the land of the free? Is the first among those freedoms not the freedom of speech? I whole heartedly understand how this gay rights group must feel, but we must be careful before we start calling for the censoring of speech.
When we begin to demand that certain speech be censored or restricted simply because it offends us, or because we do not like it, we start down a very dangerous path, a path towards thought control. Surely everyones beliefs offend someone else. If this were a gay advocacy app, then Exodus International would likely be calling to have it removed, and the tables would be turned. And even in that case, it would be just as wrong.
We've become overly litigious in this society. Almost every time you hear someone say "there ought to be a law", the reality is, there ought not to be.
Henry Ward Beecher once said "Liberty is the soul's right to breathe, and when it cannot take a long breath laws are girded too tight." Each time we enact new laws we restrict not only the rights of others, but also our own rights.
Whereas it is true that no one is calling for a law here, they might as well be. Apple is the dictatorial governing body over it's app store. Which is something I already take issue with. But to demand that someone else's work be curtailed simply because you disagree with it's content is evil, and anti-American.
I agree that the intent of this application is despicable. It's creators are deplorable malcontents, stirring the pot, and creating greater division in our great society. But I would never limit their free speech. No, I will use a far more powerful method. I will use the free market to defeat them. You see I get to vote every single day, as you do, with my dollars. And this is one app, I won't be purchasing.
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Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:57PM 
Could the whackos be right?