Apple removes anti-gay app from App Store - CNET

(Credit: Manhattan Declaration)

Apple has removed an iPhone app considered anti-gay following a wave of protests sent through the online petition site Change.org.

Initially approved and available in the App Store in October, the Manhattan Declaration app was submitted by members of the Manhattan Declaration, a movement launched last year by a number of Christian leaders espousing their condemnation of both gay marriage and abortion rights.

In approving the app, Apple originally gave it a rating of 4+, meaning it had "no objectionable material."

But described by Change.org as an application that invites people to join anti-gay and anti-choice campaigns, the Manhattan Declaration app had offered a "survey" with four questions, including "Do you believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman?" and "Do you support the right of choice regarding abortion?" Users who responded contrary to the beliefs of the group received a message at the end informing them that they answered 0 out of 4 questions correct. The app also invited people to sign up to support and donate to the group's cause.

In reaction to the app, Change.org created an online petition directed toward Apple CEO Steve Jobs asking that the app be removed for its "hateful and divisive language." Following e-mails from more than 7,700 people sent through Change.org, Apple removed the app Thanksgiving weekend.

In response to the app's removal, an Apple spokeswoman e-mailed CNET the following statement:

"We removed the Manhattan Declaration app from the App Store because it violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people."

In its own response yesterday, the Manhattan Declaration said that it's perplexed over Apple's decision to remove the app, saying that "Apple pulled the app shortly after a small but very vocal protest by those who favor gay marriage and abortion."

Responding to charges that the Manhattan Declaration is homophobic and anti-gay, the group said it doesn't believe that "disagreement" is "gay-bashing" and insists that the language it uses "to defend traditional marriage and the sanctity of human life...is civil, non-inflammatory, and respectful." The group also said it has written to Steve Jobs urging him to restore the app.

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school board member to resign over anti-gay post - CNN

Clint McCance, vice president of the Midland School District in Arkansas, says he will resign.NEW: Clint McCance says his wife and children have left state over safety concerns Clint McCance apologies for remarks, calls them "ignorant""I would never support suicide for any kids," he says after advocating suicide for homosexuals

(CNN) -- A school board district member in Arkansas who came under fire for an anti-gay post on a social networking site regrets the comments and will resign his seat, he told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday.

"I'm sorry I've hurt people with my comments," Clint McCance, vice-president of the Midland School District in Pleasant Plains, Arkansas said. "I'm sorry I made those ignorant comments and hurt people on a broad spectrum."

McCance wrote on his personal Facebook page that he wanted gay people to commit suicide, according to The Advocate, a newspaper focusing on gay news.

McCance used the terms "queer" and "fag" repeatedly, promised to disown his own children if they are gay and stated that he enjoys "the fact that [gay people] give each other AIDS and die."

On Thursday, he disowned the comments.

"I would never support suicide for any kids," he said. "I don't support bullying of any kids."

"I'd like to extend apologies to those families that have lost children, for all those children who feel that suicide is the only way out, especially for the five families who have already lost children," he said, referring to a rash of recent suicides by gay teens. "I brought more hurt on them... they didn't deserve that and I do feel genuinely bad for them."

Though he disapproves of homosexuality, McCance said that "I give everyone a chance and try to love everyone."

McCance said that he has received an outpouring of criticism over his comments, including "thousands of phone calls, hate mails, people threatening to kill my family and me."

He said he has sent his wife and two kids out of the state because of fears for their safety and that he is installing a security system at his home.

"I'm reaping what I've sown," he told CNN. "I've had a lot of hate speech thrown at me and my family on every level."

He said he would resign from the school board to spare the district the bad press and distractions of dealing with the fallout from his comments. "If they decide after five or ten years to vote me back in, then I'll run again," he said.

McCance's comments had drawn criticism from education officials in his district and at the state level.

"I strongly condemn the statements that appeared on Mr. Clint McCance's Facebook page," Tom Kimbrell, Arkansas commissioner of education, said in a statement Wednesday. "... The statements attributed to Mr. McCance constitute a significant departure from statements we expect from our school leaders. The divisiveness and disruption of these comments cause me to seriously question the ability of Mr. McCance to remain as an effective member of the Midland School Board."

The Midland School District had also denounced the posting. "The district strives to foster an environment that discourages all forms of bullying," it said in a statement this week, "and an environment that encourages a safe and productive educational climate [for] all of our students. The district is very diligent in pursuing and addressing bullying of any variety on our campuses."

The state Department of Education had said it was "dismayed to see that a school board official would post something of this insensitive nature on a public forum like Facebook."

Because McCance's Facebook page is not accessible publicly, the Advocate said it learned about the posts after being provided with a screen shot.

The posts were made, according to The Advocate, in response to a bullying awareness campaign sponsored by GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The "Spirit Day" campaign aimed to foster recognition of bullying directed at gays and the effects it can have on young people through a series of events held on October 20.

One aspect of the campaign encouraged people to wear purple to honor those who had committed suicide after experiencing anti-gay bullying, and to show solidarity with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth who face the same pressures.

According to the screen grab obtained by The Advocate, McCance wrote the following about the event: "Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers committed suicide. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed therselves because of their sin." (sic)

The post spurred a Facebook page encouraging the Midland School District to fire McCance. More than 60,000 people had "liked" the page as of Thursday evening.

However, not everyone disagreed with McCance's comments, which he had defended on his page by citing his religious beliefs.

Gays and lesbians are "thinking they're all right, and [God is] going to let them think that and go to hell for believing what they're doing is right," pastor Harry Craig, of Pleasant Plains Full Gospel Church, told CNN Little Rock affiliate KARK.

On Tuesday, the federal government warned that bullying and harassment in schools often includes violations of federally protected civil rights. Officials warned that school administrators who fail to properly deal with harassment risk being cited for civil rights violations. In extreme cases, such violations could lead to cuts in federal funding.

A group of protesters had traveled Thursday to Pleasant Plains, where they held a demonstration to call for McCance's resignation.

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Serb police clash with anti-gay rioters - BusinessWeek

By JOVANA GEC

BELGRADE, Serbia

Serbia's riot police fought running battles on Sunday with hundreds of far-right supporters who tried to disrupt a gay pride march in downtown Belgrade. Several dozen people were hurt, officials said.

Thousands of police officers sealed off the streets in the capital where the march took place, repeatedly clashing at several locations with rioters who were trying to burst through security cordons.

Several parked cars were set on fire or damaged, shop windows were broken, garbage containers were overturned and streets signs destroyed.

The rioters fired shots and hurled petrol bombs at the headquarters of the ruling pro-Western Democratic Party, setting the garage of the building on fire. The state TV building and other political parties headquarters were were also attacked, with many of the house windows shattered by stones.

The protesters, chanting "death to homosexuals!" hurled Molotov cocktails, bricks, stones, glass bottles and firecrackers at riot police. Police responded by firing tear gas and deploying armored vehicles to disperse the charging protesters in the heart of the capital even after the brief pride march ended.

The protesters hijacked a bus, ordered all of its passengers and the driver out, and pushed it down a steep street before hit an electric pole on a main Belgrade square.

Belgrade emergency hospital said 57 people have been injured, including 47 policemen, one seriously. Police said several rioters were arrested.

Right-wing groups say the gay events are contrary to Serbian family and religious values. Most of the rioters Sunday were young football fans whose groups have been infiltrated by neo-Nazi and other extremist organizations.

"These riots obviously have nothing to do with the gay parade or any moral values," said Democratic Party spokeswoman Jelana Trivan. "These are hooligan gangs which must be punished severely."

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac, vice president of the Democratic Party, said a part of the party's archive, warehouse and phone lines at the building were destroyed and shots were also fired at the building.

"It is high time that we deal in a very democratic way, through the courts, with those who call themselves members of the patriotic organizations," Sutanovac said. "Is this Belgrade or the wild West?"

Senior Justice Ministry official Slobodan Homen said that the state response will be "fierce." He said that the city center is covered with surveillance cameras and that the rioters have been identified and many already detained. He said they could face up to eight years in prison.

Sunday's march was viewed as a major test for Serbia's government, which has launched pro-Western reforms and pledged to protect human rights as it seeks European Union membership.

Right-wing groups broke up a pride march in 2001 and forced the cancellation of last year's event.

Vincent Degert, the head of the EU mission in Serbia, addressed around 1,000 gay activists and their supporters who gathered at a park in downtown Belgrade which was surrounded by riot police, including armored vehicles.

"We are here to celebrate this very important day ... to celebrate the values of tolerance, freedom of expression and assembly," Degert told the crowd waving rainbow flags.

The same right-wing group set the U.S. Embassy on fire during riots in 2008 to protest U.S. support for Kosovo's independence.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to visit Belgrade in coming days as part of a Balkan tour.

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Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed to this report.

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