They clearly state they are not a conversion therapy app, but rather a source of content and support for people who feel that their ways are against their own religion.
I do not support "converting" anyone in any way, but I am very against groups trying to silence people because of their beliefs.
This is used exclusively to injure LGBT folks. Sexuality is not something that can be channged at will, and attempting to do so causes immense harm. I can guarantee a good chunk of this app's audience are LGBT teens.
Look, I'm gay, and grew up in a very conservative area. While my parents were good, growing up closeted and seeing constant moral disapproval caused mental damage that took me some time as an adult to overcome. I was lucky.
I can tell you are straight. Please don't make assumptions about the damage that anti-LGBT rhetoric does.
Folks commonly confuse freedom of speech with freedom from consequences of speech. This shouldn't be legally banned, but companies are within their rights to not do business with these whackadoos.
They shouldn't do business with them if they value equality of humans. They don't allow apps that advocate racism. Anti-LGBT bias is no different.
It's hard to take that too seriously if you know the reality of how organizations like this operate. They know how to make themselves seems innocuous but they are a part of a larger system of psychological abuse and violence.
Yeah, I've seen enough of these orgs. They paint themselves as just wanting to help LGBT folks, but it's really all a ruse. They are vile, and have a hatred for anything different.
There's a still more subtle distinction that I think is also lost on people: You can be in favor of someone being able to say something, but still be opposed to them actually saying it in a given situation.
For example, I don't think people should be barred from saying they hate me and wish ill on me. But I still am strongly opposed to them saying it, and if somebody is saying that around me, I'll either try to get them to stop, get them to go away, or extricate myself. I respect their right to independent thought, but I'm still not going to idly stand by for that.
So I don't think we should do stings to find people discussing how they think it would be cool to traumatize gay kids, but I do think we should oppose them trying to traumatize gay kids within our sphere of influence. And even with the social awareness of the modern age, people still feel pretty free to push for horrible stuff like this in public, so I'm not worried we're going too far at this exact moment.
When I first saw this app in the news, I downloaded it to see how this "conversion therapy" app worked. I was expecting step-by-step instructions on how to go from gay to straight, but instead I got an app for listening to Bible verses and devotionals. It's as much a "conversion therapy" app as any other conservative Christian app. I deleted the app because I have no use for it, but the whole thing is a tempest in a teapot.
https://livehope.org/2019/01/31/open_letter_apple/
They clearly state they are not a conversion therapy app, but rather a source of content and support for people who feel that their ways are against their own religion.
I do not support "converting" anyone in any way, but I am very against groups trying to silence people because of their beliefs.