Religious app removed by Apple after conversion therapy claims

An app by a religious organisation Living Hope Ministries has been removed from the Apple Store after a petition called for its removal and claimed it was promoting conversion therapy.

The petition also said the app was “outrageously offensive” and “dangerous.”

A US organisation that fights “antigay lies and the ex-gay myth” called Truth Wins Out started the petition.

Meanwhile, the removed religious app was owned by Arlington-based religious group Living Hope Ministries, and the organisation’s executive director said he would be asking them to restore the app, according to DallasNews.com.

Truth Wins Out claimed in the petition that the app targeted young people who wanted to “change from gay-to-straight through prayer and therapy.”

They also claim that the app portrayed being gay as an “addiction”, a “sickness” and as a “sin.”

“We have no problem with an individual who is gay if that’s what they want to be… We don’t make any proclamations about fixing anyone.”

– Ricky Chelette, Living Hope Ministries

Living Hope Ministries exists to help people “seeking sexual and relational wholeness through a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ,” according to DallasNews.com.

LGBT+ organisation claims the app is ‘dangerous’

Truth Wins Out thanked Apple for swiftly removing the app from their store, and said the organisation behind it “stigmatises and demeans LGBT people.”

Ricky Chelette, the executive director of Living Hope Ministries, said that they do not call what they do “conversion therapy.”

He said that people seek out their organisation when there is a clash between their faith and sexual attractions.