Homophobia? There’s an app for that.
Dear friend,
Q: Can the developers of the “Is My Son Gay?” Android app actually predict someone’s sexual orientation in 20 questions?
A: No. But they are definitely making a quick buck spreading a slew of stereotypes about gay people.
Targeting mothers who are questioning whether their kid might be gay, the new Android application asks whether their son “is very careful when choosing outfits,” or if he “likes football” rather than “musical comedies”1. The app goes even further to insinuate that getting a divorce can make your son gay.
It’s time to stop recycling the same, tired stereotypes and encouraging gay paranoia just to make a buck. Apple, makers of the iPhone, have pulled ex-gay applications in the past2, and Google has yanked some for violating user agreements3, which also bans hate speech4. The Google team now says they are investigating the issue5, but if we can get to 10,000 signatures, we’ll show the team at Google’s Android Marketplace that this app has got to go now:
allout.org/androidapp
We can all laugh at some of the questions the app asks - “Is he a fan of divas (Madonna, Britney Spears)?” is at the top of our list. But others go a step farther by reducing both gay and straight people to harmful stereotypes - like only gay people are timid or have complicated relationships with their fathers. What’s worse, the app implies that being gay means you’re weird and that your parents did something wrong to make you that way. Ugh.
We can’t know whether this app is meant to be serious or just a joke, but circulating these ideas far and wide is dangerous. If it’s serious, the app is belittling and misleading. If it’s a joke, it’s made at the expense of millions of kids trying to just be who they are - whether or not he “reads the sports page” or “takes a long time to do his hair”.
Let’s ask Google’s Android Marketplace to stop cashing in on an application that takes cheap shots at LGBT youth, and brings out the worst in parents:
All the best and All Out,
Andre, Erika, Guillaume, Jeremy, Joseph, Nita, Oli, Prerna, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Out
Links:
1. Android app asks, ‘Is my son gay?’
www.gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/26/7968876-android-app-asks-is-my-son-gay
2. Apple Bans ‘Ex-Gay’ Christian App That Promised to ‘Cure’ Homosexuality
www.nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/03/apple_bans_app_that_promises_t.html
3. Google Pulls an Apple by Yanking 2 Android Market Apps
www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Google-Pulls-an-Apple-Yanks-2-Apps-from-Android-Market-853635
4. Android Market Developer Program Policies
www.android.com/us/developer-content-policy.html
5. L’application “mon fils est-il gay ?” suscite l’indignation [French link]
www.hightech.nouvelobs.com/actualites/20110926.OBS1106/l-application-mon-fils-est-il-gay-suscite-l-indignation.html
