Ever wished your iPhone could be used to foster homophobia and extreme anti-choice views? Well, consider that wish granted, because Apple has approved an iPhone app for a project known as the Manhattan Declaration. Started with the help of convicted felon Chuck Colson, the Manhattan Declaration is a document signed by a number of anti-gay activists pledging to revive the culture wars and stop same-sex marriage.
Spelled out in the Manhattan Declaration are a set of principles that boil LGBT people down to little more than deviant cretins. According to the Manhattan Declaration, society should refer to gay relationships as "immoral sexual partnerships," and all people of faith should adopt a belief that "LGBT people erode marriage." Colson, as the Declaration's author, even went so far as to say that gay people will destroy the family unit, and could bring down civilization as we know it.
Nothing like a little extremism to start the morning.
So why would Apple sanction an iPhone app that sends these same messages? That's a question that Jeremy Hooper over at Good As You is wondering. Hooper perused through the Manhattan Declaration's app, and took the survey that the Manhattan Declaration allows iPhone users to take. Not surprisingly, anyone who responds to the survey with answers that favor LGBT equality get told they're wrong and inaccurate.
Among the questions that the app asks users are: (1) Do you believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman?; (2) Do you believe in protecting life from the moment of conception?; (3) Do you support same-sex relationships?; and (4) Do you support the right of choice regarding abortion.
Hooper answered the questions like most pro-equality, pro-choice folks would do, and was promptly told by the Manhattan Declaration: "SURVEY COMPLETE! 0%, You answered 0 out of 4 questions correct. [sic]"
So much for an objective survey, right?
The application also allows users to wade through a series of right-wing talking points that call for the elimination of choice for women, as well as an end to same-sex marriage. And then for kicks, the app also tells users that there's no such thing as separation of church and state.
Apple, for their part, has given the app a rating of 4+. What does that means? According to their rating system, it means that the app contains "no objectionable material." Say what?
Because it sure seems like if you're going to call same-sex relationships "immoral sexual partnerships," or if you're going to accuse gay people of "eroding marriage," or if you say that gay people don't deserve basic civil rights, that should at least fall into the category of "objectionable."
Send Apple a message that applications that support hate and division have no place in the iTunes Store. It's bad business, and all it does is foster a climate of homophobia where people who support LGBT equality are told that they're "immoral" and wrong. That's not an iPhone app. That's bigotry.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Invisible People...this shouldn't happen in the USA
What has four wheels and carries a turkey?
Unless you own a turkey farm, chances are that the bird in your oven took a spin in a shopping cart. Most of us don't think twice about using a shopping cart (except when it has a squeaky wheel).
On the streets, a shopping cart is called a "buggy." When I was homeless, I avoided "pushing a buggy" as long as I could. When that day finally came - when I had to get something from point A to Point B and had no other option but to use a shopping cart - I could no longer be in denial about my situation. I was homeless. As you can imagine, accepting that reality was devastating.
You would think that pushing a buggy on the street is as easy as it is in the grocery store parking lot. I assure you it's not. I had worked a week in a temp job and was able to pay for a SRO (single room occupancy hotel) in North Hollywood. When my money ran out they rolled me up and I had to take my stuff to my storage unit a few miles away. My first challenge was finding a cart. Then, I filled it up and started the long trek, but found going over the curbs extremely difficult. I manhandled the cart over each curb for about a half a mile and I was exhausted. It was very humiliating; people drove by laughing at me.
Right when I was about to give up I saw a mother across the street with her baby carriage and she turned the thing around to go over the curbs. Wow! Was it really that simple? Sure enough, on each street curb I turned my buggy around to backup over the curb. It worked and I was well on my way to becoming a seasoned homeless person.
That day was really a low point of my life. Maybe one of the lowest. I wish I could put into words how crushing it was to my sense of worth. Accepting that I was homeless meant that I had to also accept I may never get out of homelessness. But I was one of the lucky ones.
Thanksgiving is a time when we take a moment to be grateful. Today, I am grateful for people like you who care about the issue of homelessness. It was someone just like you that supported the organization that helped me get off the streets. It was someone just like you that clothed me and fed me until I was able to fend for myself. It was someone just like you that gave me a chance to dream again and a chance to become a normal, housed person again.
Today, there are hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, pushing a buggy, homeless, and hopeless. They need someone to give them a chance.
I don't know you, except for two things: you're sitting at a computer and you care about homelessness (there is no other possible explanation for you to be reading a blog about homeless issues than you have a heart for people). Even if you are not a religious person please take a moment today to pray in your own way for the invisible people out there who are sleeping in the streets, in their cars, or in a state of poverty that should not exist in this great country of ours.
From all of us at Change.org, have a happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for keeping the conversation of homelessness and poverty going. Together we can affect change and make a difference in the world.
Unless you own a turkey farm, chances are that the bird in your oven took a spin in a shopping cart. Most of us don't think twice about using a shopping cart (except when it has a squeaky wheel).
On the streets, a shopping cart is called a "buggy." When I was homeless, I avoided "pushing a buggy" as long as I could. When that day finally came - when I had to get something from point A to Point B and had no other option but to use a shopping cart - I could no longer be in denial about my situation. I was homeless. As you can imagine, accepting that reality was devastating.
You would think that pushing a buggy on the street is as easy as it is in the grocery store parking lot. I assure you it's not. I had worked a week in a temp job and was able to pay for a SRO (single room occupancy hotel) in North Hollywood. When my money ran out they rolled me up and I had to take my stuff to my storage unit a few miles away. My first challenge was finding a cart. Then, I filled it up and started the long trek, but found going over the curbs extremely difficult. I manhandled the cart over each curb for about a half a mile and I was exhausted. It was very humiliating; people drove by laughing at me.
Right when I was about to give up I saw a mother across the street with her baby carriage and she turned the thing around to go over the curbs. Wow! Was it really that simple? Sure enough, on each street curb I turned my buggy around to backup over the curb. It worked and I was well on my way to becoming a seasoned homeless person.
That day was really a low point of my life. Maybe one of the lowest. I wish I could put into words how crushing it was to my sense of worth. Accepting that I was homeless meant that I had to also accept I may never get out of homelessness. But I was one of the lucky ones.
Thanksgiving is a time when we take a moment to be grateful. Today, I am grateful for people like you who care about the issue of homelessness. It was someone just like you that supported the organization that helped me get off the streets. It was someone just like you that clothed me and fed me until I was able to fend for myself. It was someone just like you that gave me a chance to dream again and a chance to become a normal, housed person again.
Today, there are hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, pushing a buggy, homeless, and hopeless. They need someone to give them a chance.
I don't know you, except for two things: you're sitting at a computer and you care about homelessness (there is no other possible explanation for you to be reading a blog about homeless issues than you have a heart for people). Even if you are not a religious person please take a moment today to pray in your own way for the invisible people out there who are sleeping in the streets, in their cars, or in a state of poverty that should not exist in this great country of ours.
From all of us at Change.org, have a happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for keeping the conversation of homelessness and poverty going. Together we can affect change and make a difference in the world.
Support the DREAM
On a September morning, just before dawn, ICE came knocking on Fredd Reyes’ door. It was 5 am and Fredd was asleep after a long night of studying for his exam at Guilford Technical Community College that very same day. Instead of taking his exam, Fredd was rudely awakened from his sleep, handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and taken from his North Carolina home to North Georgia Detention Center. He was then transferred to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, which is quite infamous for corrupt and inhumane immigrant detention practices.
Twenty-two years ago, Fredd's family fled their native Guatemala in the face of death threats and persecution. Needless to say, they haven't been back since. Despite the clear danger they faced back in Guatemala, an immigration judge denied their bid for asylum in 2000.
Fredd worked hard and earned his Associates Degree from Davidson County Community College and transferred to Guilford Tech to continue his education. As a result, he is eligible for the federal DREAM Act, which would give undocumented youth like him a pathway to citizenship, expected to come up for a vote in the House and Senate before the end of this year. Fredd aspires to utilize his acting and singing skills to become a professional actor and renowned singer, and he's quite good (see video below). He is neither a criminal nor a threat to this country, and completely undeserving of detention, let alone deportation from the only country he calls his home.
Like others who have faced the injustice of our immigration system and the Stewart Facility, Fredd has the potential for an approved green card awaiting him on the other side of the walls that now deprive him of his freedom. The only thing stopping him from being at home with his family during Thanksgiving is a stubborn refusal to open his case.
No family should be ripped apart due to the failure of Congress to pass immigration reform or the DREAM Act in due time. Don't deprive a family of their son this holiday season.
Twenty-two years ago, Fredd's family fled their native Guatemala in the face of death threats and persecution. Needless to say, they haven't been back since. Despite the clear danger they faced back in Guatemala, an immigration judge denied their bid for asylum in 2000.
Fredd worked hard and earned his Associates Degree from Davidson County Community College and transferred to Guilford Tech to continue his education. As a result, he is eligible for the federal DREAM Act, which would give undocumented youth like him a pathway to citizenship, expected to come up for a vote in the House and Senate before the end of this year. Fredd aspires to utilize his acting and singing skills to become a professional actor and renowned singer, and he's quite good (see video below). He is neither a criminal nor a threat to this country, and completely undeserving of detention, let alone deportation from the only country he calls his home.
Like others who have faced the injustice of our immigration system and the Stewart Facility, Fredd has the potential for an approved green card awaiting him on the other side of the walls that now deprive him of his freedom. The only thing stopping him from being at home with his family during Thanksgiving is a stubborn refusal to open his case.
No family should be ripped apart due to the failure of Congress to pass immigration reform or the DREAM Act in due time. Don't deprive a family of their son this holiday season.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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