Forget the religious ideologies; crusades against homosexuality have now seem to gone the way of technology to “address the issue of homosexuality with grace and truth.” Roughly, 150,000 people rallied together to sign a petition online presented by Truth Wins Out, a non-profit LGBT advocacy organization, and Change.org, against a “gay cure” application for the Apple iPhone. Proponents of Truth Wins Out say: “Exodus’ message is hateful and bigoted.” They claim to offer “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ” and use scare tactics, misinformation, stereotypes, and distortions of LGBT life to recruit clients.

The app, which was submitted by Exodus International on Feb. 15, pledges to “provide support for individuals who want to recover from homosexuality.” The app operates much like Exodus International’s website with an event calendar, videos, news, and links that reflect their belief that someone can be steered away from homosexuality. Initially, the Apple app store gave the app a 4+ approval rating, a rating kept for apps with “no objectionable material.” The Apple Company has since removed this app from their App Store.

However, this is not the first time Apple has come under fire for giving the green light to some pretty moot, if not questionable, software applications for the iPhone. Some of the most notorious applications scrapped from the Apple app store include “Beauty Meter” which allowed users to rate users’ photos but led to the issue of child pornography and “Baby Shaker” which encouraged users to violently shake their iPhones in order to quiet a crying baby. “Roll Your Own” was another controversial app that educated users, through video tutorials and tips, on “joint making” but still continues to be available for download by ages seventeen and up. Just last year, Apple removed an anti-gay app after 7,000 people signed a Change.org petition.

In response to Apple yanking the app from its store, Exodus International president Alan Chambers says, “I would hope in a perfect world that Apple would allow this diversity, [and] that they would respect the diversity of their customers. It’s alarming to see that people who are opposed to free thought and diversity are attacking and causing this type of trouble for organizations like ours.”