Petition to get Google to remove gay ‘cure’ app tops 40,000
Google’s UK headquarters in London. (TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images)
A petition to get Google to take down a “pray the gay away” app has reached more than 40,000 signatures.
The mounting pressure on Google to remove the app comes after Apple, Amazon and Microsoft took down the technology from their platforms.
The petition was launched on Change.org by LGBT+ organisation Truth Wins Out, which campaigns against anti-gay religious extremism.
“When Truth Wins Out previously brought the hate app to the attention of Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, the companies acted with responsibility and swiftly removed it from their online stores,” it reads.
“The surprising silence from Google is in stark contrast with the corporation’s stated policies of inclusion, respect and diversity.
“So why hasn’t the company taken action?”
Google under pressure to remove religious app after Apple, Amazon and Microsoft take down technology
The petition had received 41,251 signatures at the time of publication.
Google is under pressure to remove the app, which is owned by Living Hope Ministries. (Google Play)
PinkNews has contacted Google for comment.
“The surprising silence from Google is in stark contrast with the corporation’s stated policies of inclusion, respect and diversity.”
—Truth Wins Out’s petition
Truth Wins Out’s petition reports that the app compares homosexuality to addiction, claiming LGBT+ people live “destructive lifestyles.”
The religious app is owned by Arlington-based religious group Living Hope Ministries.
The petition adds: “‘Ex-gay’ programs are a sham.
“They don’t work, they destroy lives and they are condemned by every respectable medical and mental health organization in the world.”
Religious app on Google “singles out LGBT people for bigotry and ridicule”
It concludes: “Please sign our petition to demand that Google stop procrastinating and immediately remove Living Hope’s hateful app that deliberately singles out LGBT people for bigotry and ridicule.
“Every moment that this app remains at Google’s online store, vulnerable LGBT teenagers can download it, so time is of the essence.”
In a previous petition to get the technology taken down, Truth Wins Out claimed that the app targeted young people who wanted to “change from gay-to-straight through prayer and therapy.”
