Company believes app promotes intolerance

Apple has again rejected a revised app version of the "Manhattan Declaration," a document written and signed by various leaders in the conservative-christian community, according to a report from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Apple originally approved, then rejected the app earlier this month in response to petitions and criticism from gay and progressive groups. The new version was rejected for the same reasons as previously given, the company's belief that the app would "expose a group to harm" and that the intent of the app is to be "objectionable and potentially harmful to others."

The actual declaration calls for signatories to be anti-abortion, pro-traditional marriage and to engage in civil disobedience where existing law is in conflict with Christian dogma. It directly refers to gay relationships as "immoral sexual partnerships," and says marriage "is not a civil right" for gay people. It promotes the sanctity of life in opposing abortion, genocide, ethnic "cleansing" and sexual trafficking, though as critics point out it is completely silent on the topics of war or capital punishment. Likewise, the document ordains that marriage is between one man and one woman ("as a reproductive unit"), but does not actually condemn divorce or remarriage.

The original app version offered a copy of the document for reading and signing, but also added a "poll" on the principles of the document that only awarded points to "correct" answers affirming the document's anti-abortion, anti-gay message. The revised version removed the poll, and was submitted with a petition in favor of reinstating the app, but was rejected again.

The app's developers plan to appeal the rejection to Apple's App Review Board after the holidays. The web site for the document is currently hosting another petition to get the app reinstated. [via GLAAD]

by MacNN Staff