New York state Senator Brad Hoylman, a
Democrat, has called on Google to remove an app from its Play store
that describes being gay as a “sickness.”
According to NBC News, the app from
Arlington, Texas-based Living Hope Ministries promotes therapies that
attempt to alter the sexual orientation or gender identity of people
who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Such therapies go by
names such as “conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy,”
“sexual orientation change efforts” or “ex-gay therapy.”
Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon responded
to a petition calling for the app to be removed, taking it down from
their online stores. But the app is still live on Google's Play
store.
“Google [is] planning to have about
7,000 employees in our Senate district, so I would urge them to
remove the app post-haste,” said
Hoylman, who authored a recent bill prohibiting such therapies to
minors in New York. “I'm hopeful that they'll see the harm that
this kind of message sends to the kids and families.”
(Related: New
York Governor Andrew Cuomo signs transgender rights bill, ban on
“ex-gay” therapy.)
“I think Google should do the right
thing and remove the app from their store immediately,” he added.
Nearly 50,000 people have signed a
Change.org petition calling on Google to remove the app from its
online store.
According to its website, Living Hope
Ministries “proclaims a Christ-centered, Biblical world-view of
sexual expression rooted in one man and one woman in a committed,
monogamous, heterosexual marriage for life.”
In December, the religious group denied
that it's opposed to people who identify as LGBT.
“I think it's unfortunate that the
advocacy group doesn't know what we do and is assuming that we're
some hate organization,” the
group's Rick Chelette said. “We love gay-identified
individuals.”