An
Apple app that asked users to sign onto a declaration against gay
marriage was no longer available Friday from iTunes.
The Manhattan Declaration app is a
mobile version of the
manifesto unveiled last year in New York by religious leaders opposed
to gay marriage.
Supporters of marriage equality called
the app's inclusion a double standard, because Apple has previously
rejected gay-inclusive apps.
In responding to the controversy, the
group insisted that it loves gay men and lesbians.
“Christians love homosexuals,
straight people, women who have had abortions, nuns and everyone else
with equal dignity,” the
group said in a blog post at its website. “But we also love
God and our religious tradition above public approval and political
correctness.”
The free app included the 4,700 word
document, which users were asked to electronically sign, and a
four-question survey. One question asks, “Do you support same-sex
relationships?” Users who answer “yes” are told that they have
replied incorrectly.
Supporters of the document include Tony
Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), a
group recently labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law
Center (SPLC), James
Dobson, founder of the anti-gay Christian-based Focus on the Family,
and Bishop
Harry R. Jackson, Jr., the District of Columbia's most visible
opponent of its gay marriage law.