Are you gay and need curing? There's an app for that

Yes, you read it right, there is an organisation, Exodus International, an organisation that promotes and endorses "conversion therapy" for gay people, launched an iPhone app earlier this month.

The Exodus app is intended to reach tech-savvy young adults, and deliver this dangerous message: you can be "freed from homosexuality" and have your sexual orientation "cured" if you're LGBT.


One, I have never heard such crap in all my life, you cannot be cured if you don't have a disease that needs curing.  Being gay is not a disease, believe me.
 
Michael Jones of Change.org explains;

Apple has been a strong ally to the LGBT community for years, even donating $100,000 to defeat California’s Proposition 8, the state’s ban on marriage equality. Just a few months ago, Apple actually removed another app from iTunes that labeled same-sex couples "immoral sexual partnerships."

Given the tragic wave of teenage suicides in the USA, all of whom have been LGBT (which must be halted) this awful app by Exodus International must be pulled, because if it encourages just one young LGBT person to commit suicide then the damage has been done.
From Change.org;

This new iPhone app is the latest move in Exodus' dangerous new strategy of targeting youth. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, LGBT teens who experienced negative feedback from their family were 8 times more likely to have attempted suicide, 6 times as vulnerable to severe depression, and 3 times more likely to use drugs (Caitlin Ryan, San Francisco State University, June 2009).

Apple doesn't allow racist or anti-Semitic apps in its app store, yet it gives the green light to an app targeting vulnerable LGBT youth with the message that their sexual orientation is a "sin that will make your heart sick" and a "counterfeit." This is a double standard that has the potential for devastating consequences.

Apple needs to be told, loud and clear, that this is unacceptable. Stand with Truth Wins Out -- demand that the iTunes store stop supporting homophobia and remove the Exodus app.

Please sign the petition HERE and add your name to the 34,000+ trying to persuade Apple to pull this homophobic and hateful iphone app.

This is the letter that gets sent out in your name once you sign the petition;

Please remove the dangerous "ex-gay" iPhone app
Dear Mr. Jobs:
I am writing today to ask you to remove the Exodus International application from the iTunes store.
Apple has long been a friend of the LGBT community, opposing California's Proposition 8, removing the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration iPhone app, and earning a 100% score from the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. I am shocked that this same company has given the green light to an app from a notoriously anti-gay organization like Exodus International that uses scare tactics, misinformation, stereotypes and distortions of LGBT life to recruit clients, endorses the use of so-called "reparative therapy" to "change" the sexual orientation of their clients (despite the fact that this form of "therapy" has been roundly condemned by every major professional medical organization), and targets vulnerable, suicide-prone LGBT youth with the message that their sexual orientation is a "sin that will make your heart sick" and a "counterfeit," contributing to and legitimizing the ostracism of these youth from their families.
Your company would never allow a racist or anti-Semitic app to be sold in the iTunes store, and for good reason. Apple's approval of the anti-gay Exodus International app represents a double standard for the LGBT community with potentially devastating consequences for our youth. This is unacceptable, and I urge you to take a strong stance against homophobia by removing this dangerous "ex-gay" iPhone app from the store.

Gay flashmob at a bad hotel

If you support LGBT rights and you are planning to go to San Francisco this summer please watch this first.

If you need cheering up today, then please watch this.

STOP - put the chicken sandwich down, move away, it could turn you gay!

That is according to the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales.

Ten out of ten to Pink News for spotting this one.

Speaking to a climate change conference President Morales said;

"The chicken we eat is loaded with female hormones. So, when men eat it, they tend to deviate from their manhood."

He added that he only eats non-genetically modified chicken to avoid becoming gay or effeminate.

And wait for it, it gets better.

President Morales also argued that eating treated chicken could also turn men bald.

"Baldness, which seems normal, is a disease in Europe. Almost everyone is bald and it's related to the food they eat. Among the indigenous people there are no bald men, because we eat different things."

Almost everyone in Europe is bald?

Honestly, have you ever read so much crap in your life?

I don't remember eating that much chicken growing up, our family favourite was mince and mash - take from that what you will........

Either there will be massive queues in the supermarket aisles this weekend or everyone will think the President of Bolivia is, well, just very mis-informed.

Top rugby star Gareth Thomas says he is gay

It is absolutely fantastic that Cardiff Blues player and former British Lions captain, Gareth Thomas has announced he is gay.

The reason I say fantastic is this, there are quite obviously many gay sports players out there, but for many different reasons don't feel they can come out. That is really sad and it sends out a negative message to young people tormented with their sexuality when they see major sports stars hiding their sexuality.

I hope Gareth's announcement will encourage other gay sports players to come out.

Speaking to The Times, Gareth Thomas said; "I don't want to be known as a gay rugby player. I am a rugby player first and foremost. I am a man. I just happen to be gay. It's irrelevant. What I choose to do when I close the door at home has nothing to do with what I have achieved in rugby."

Thomas, Wales' most-capped player, said it had been "really tough" hiding his sexuality, but hoped coming out would help future generations of rugby players.

Good on you Gareth and I totally agree with much of what you say, rugby really is a "man's" sport, but your record speaks very clearly, your sexuality really should be irrelevant.

Another comment Gareth made, this time to the BBC Sports website, is really sad but shows what Gareth and many, many other gay people go through at times; "I used to go to the cliffs overlooking the beach near our cottage in St Brides Major and just think about jumping off and ending it all."

We are all glad you never saw that through!

Gareth Thomas is to be applauded for making his very personal decision public, and good luck to him and the team in today's game against Toulouse.

Gay Trooper Ben Rakestrow is out in Afghanistan

I saw this story first on the BBC news newspaper review yesterday morning, and found myself intrigued that a story of one of the Army's finest who has come out to his fellow troops was being covered by a red top newspaper in a positive way.

So, firstly ten out of ten to The Sun. (I really never thought I would hear myself ever say that!)

But it does prove that finally gay people are being accepted, accepted that our sexuality does not change how we do our job, bizarrely we don't all jump on every person we see of the same sex!

Secondly, this also proves that our Armed Forces are also starting to grow up and become a little more all encompassing on the "gay" issue. It is similar to when they accepted (finally) that women were going to go out onto the frontline and the initial response from the top brass was where would they sleep?

Well, I have always found a bed is good for sleeping on. Seriously though, I get where they were coming from but it was they who were creating the problems. Like gay men and women coming out in the Armed Forces it will always take a little time for people to adapt, the banter to die down and I am sure Ben Rakestrow has had his fill of shower jokes etc, it isn't homophobic as some may say, it is the banter of life in our armed forces.
















Ben Rakestrow serves with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment and is back from Afghanistan where he was in the same convoy as Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe when the commanding officer was killed in an explosion.

Ben, like every other man or woman, straight or gay in our armed forces is a hero in my eyes.

Ben is only 21 and my only concern about this whole episode is his choice of duvet cover, come on Ben, Zac Efron? Get a grip mate :-)

Church of Scotland in homophobic employment stance?

After posting my T-Mobile blog post link on Twitter this morning I then had a look through the stories that had been running overnight and there was one that caught my eye, "Kirk votes against trainee gay clergy".

Now, everyone that knows me well, knows I have a view on religion, which isn't good, however I do respect those who partake in religion of whatever faith.

However, that aside, I do take racism, sexism and homophobia very seriously and I fully believe that if any organisation said they couldn't employ anyone openly religious we would never hear the end of it from religious groups.

So, how can the Church of Scotland stop anyone who is openly gay working for the Church?

Surely the key factor is a belief in God, not who you sleep with?

It is a great pity that the Church doesn't unite across the UK and take fighting paedophilia as seriously as they do being homophobic.

The story is reported on Pink News and The Christian Institute where it is reported that this two year ban on employing openly gay people was put in place after the appointment of Revd Scott Rennie in Aberdeen.

I think yet again the Church just decides what it wants and when it wants and no one stands up to them, well I think it is time they played by the same rules that the rest of us play by and stand up to discrimination whether it be sexism, racism or homophobia!

Scottish Round Up and blogging

When I think back to 15th May 2007 when I asked Will Howells to set this blog up, I never thought that I would ever get the high number of people that now regularly read my blog, some even daily or that I would ever get to do anything like guest editor for Scottish Roundup as I have done this week.

I used to joke on the blog about both my readers but as I go round the UK to different events whether it be family, meetings or work I always get people coming up to me saying I read your blog, I really enjoy the mix of stories.

In 2007 I blogged just 32 times, 2008 saw a five fold increase in postings to 153, and now in 2009 I have already blogged 246 times, 247 if you count this one.

The topics I have blogged about are as varied as you like as well, mostly politics, whether my passion and support for the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Liberal Democrats or the gay politics, or my general musings of and on the world.

I hope you do continue to enjoy reading the blog as much as I enjoy writing it.

Gay and unmarried couples in Scotland can now adopt

I don't know exactly why it is today, but from today, gay and unmarried couples in Scotland will now be able to adopt and also have exactly the same adoption rights as married couples.

This finally brings Scotland into line with England and Wales.

Gay people have always been able to adopt but only as individuals but the new law that comes into force today under the Adoption & Children (Scotland) Act 2007 will give legal rights to both partners.

This piece of legislation is from the days of the Labour/Liberal Democrats administration.

Predictably the Church of Scotland has criticised the move, saying gay relationships are "profoundly unstable".

I've been with my partner for 16 years and neither we or our relationship are unstable. But seriously, how on earth can the Church of Scotland say that gay relationships are unstable as a cause for a child not to be adopted, surely a gay couple (or an unmarried couple) is way better than an individual parent, gay or straight? Is the Church of Scotland really thinking about the children here or just being narrow minded?

Scotland’s director of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering said: "BAAF sees this act as recognising the need for a social care framework that is sensitive to the needs of children and not hung up on legalities.

"Finally, the act is ensuring that all those working within adoption in Scotland are striving to put the needs of children first. It is trying, wherever possible, to shape the legal process around the needs of children with speed and sensitivity and without harming the rights of the birth parents."

Beaten, tortured and left for dead - just for being gay in Iraq

There are a few things in life that upset me enough to make me so angry I could scream and explode in anger, this is one of them. How does anyone have the right to end someone else's life just because they choose to sleep with someone else of the same sex?

Well done to my colleague Alan Muhammed for spotting the story and circulating it on Twitter.

The story, in today's Observer, talks about the destruction of Islam by the gay people in Iraq! It is such a load of crap, honestly, but it does show that gay people in Iraq were safer when Saddam Hussein was in power and that during the 1960s and 1970s there was more of a liberated gay scene.

This horrific violence towards gay people really started increasing after 2003 when militias groups started targeting gay people and the journalists have interviewed a man who targets gay internet chatrooms so he can select his next victims - it is times like this I wonder how journalists do their job with a fair and freehand, but thankfully they do and can in order to show us these stories although I do wish sometimes they would then turn these people into the authorities.

The article goes on to describe one mother who was taken to see and identify the body of her son with the police once a note had been pinned to her front door telling her where the body was, who had been tortured, having his anus glued and his genitals chopped off, she is quoted as saying "I will carry this image with me until my dying day" - no parent, in fact nobody should ever have to witness that or suffer that torture just for being gay.

The government claim the police would never help these groups that target the LGBT community but that certainly is not what the journalists have uncovered.

These people, are not people but despicable bastards for doing this to any other human being whatever their sexuality but actually going out and targeting gay people and luring them out is just - in fact I am now so angry and upset I cannot find the right words to describe these people at all.

I know there are homophobic people in this country, in fact sometimes I have to talk to them and I do pity them, even recently as some of my work colleagues know I had to email a response to one but I would never let them win, I will continue to try and educate their bigotry and ignorance - I certainly wouldn't torture them just because they didn't understand.

We have to stand up to these people not just because they are homophobic, but because they have such a warped mind they feel torture and murder is an acceptable way to deal with people that are different to them. I wonder what they would do if someone slept with their wife?

Conservative Party to prioritise gay rights

What a load of pish, come on Cameron, you were involved in manifesto and policy production when your Conservative Party gave us Section 28, I don't recall you fighting for the Gays then.

Oh, that's right you weren't trying to get into power were you, you knew you were out of touch still and were not going to win.

Stonewall has always been a home for Labour, which is why I have cancelled my Membership (twice), they make all the promises that they are inclusive of all political parties but it is a load of rubbish and so is Cameron's rhetoric today.

I will never forget the hatred that Section 28 created and the hype that the Conservatives took part in and still do today, Conservative controlled Kent County Council wanted to introduce their own version of Section 28.

So, no the Conservatives aren't prioritising gay rights and never will, but they will (like their Scottish bedfellows the SNP) say anything just to get elected.

Cures for Gays

Is the Metro turning into the Daily Mail?

I had received a text this morning from a good friend - What the...Metro headline 'experts still try cures for gays.'

I sat there getting annoyed, then the BBC News team did the paper review and the headlines screamed "Fern Britton to leave This Morning" - oh my god could the day get any worse?

So, sat on the bus I read the story - Experts still try 'cures' for gays. What a load of rubbish.

17% of therapists, mental health professionals who most of actually work for the NHS have tried to 'cure' gay patients - what of for crying out loud? Good taste in clothes?

Come on - these so called professionals should be ashamed of themselves and should actually be fired by the NHS and struck off as well. Let's invest the money saved into curing real illnesses like cancer!

To the therapist quoted who said; 'The physical act for male homosexuals is physically damaging and is the main reason in this country for Aids/HIV. It is also perverse' - I say this. You are wrong.

You really should check your facts about Aids and HIV before you spout your claptrap. Also as a therapist your personal opinion isn't supposed to cloud your judgment, your personal opinion seems to lead your professional opinion - time to resign!

Yes, I'm biased because I'm gay. But I knew for years I was gay and I was not suffering from any mental illness and nor am I now.

Yes, I'm ranting because I'm angry that this volume of NHS so called professionals are able to preach this rubbish to people who are seeking advice.

Stand up and be counted and then resign.

Finally, do go and read my friend and colleagues take on this here.