Less than a week after a petition on Change.org sought to bring down the app, Exodus International’s no longer welcome on Apple’s iOS content repository. The sign-up was started by gay right website Truth Wins Out and had won upwards of 150,000 signatures before the app was pulled. (Uninstall? Petition Asks Apple to Remove Ex-Gay App)
Exodus’ ministry posits that homosexuality is an illness, one that can be “cured” by faith. The app delivered videos, text and links to meet-ups where this message was promulgated. But the why of the Exodus banning may have had nothing to do with the outcry of the ministry’s aims. Dr. Gary Remafedi–a Univ. of Minnnesota professor who claims that findings from his research were distorted by Exodus International–also requested that Apple remove the app from the App Store.
No matter what the lever was, gay rights advocates (as well as opponents of hate speech) have scored a big win in the iOS space and have encouraged Apple to live up to its own standards.