Google has been suspended from a top LGBTQ rights organization’s corporate equality index after it failed to remove a controversial gay conversion therapy app from its Play Store.
The Human Rights Campaign issued its annual corporate equality index on Thursday and notably omitted the search giant from its rankings, citing the ongoing presence of a conversion therapy app on its application distribution platform.
The app, distributed by Texas-based Christian non-profit Living Hope Ministries, offers users access to audio and video sermons, devotions, as well as testimonials.
Living Hope repeatedly portrays being gay as an ‘addiction,’ a ‘destructive lifestyle’ and a ‘sin,’ while telling users their sexuality can be changed or ignored.
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Google has been suspended from a top LGBTQ rights organization’s corporate equality index after it failed to remove a controversial gay conversion therapy app from its Play Store
Over the past several months, LGBTQ rights groups have criticized Google for its failure to remove the app.
The Living Hope app has been downloaded more than 1,000 times on the Google Play Store, according to the app listing.
The HRC outlined the detrimental effects that are associated with promoting conversion therapy.
‘Sometimes known as “reparative therapy,” so-called “conversion therapy” includes a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity expression,’ the HRC report states.
‘Such practices have been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades. Minors are especially vulnerable, and conversion therapy can lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness and suicide.
‘Pending remedial steps by the company to address this app that can cause harm to the LGBTQ community, the CEI rating is suspended,’ it continues.
The Corporate Equality Index serves as a prominent benchmarking tool for LGBTQ workplace equality and is often touted by companies when they’re recruiting future employees as a demonstration of their commitment to inclusivity and non-discrimination.
The Living Hope app, distributed by Texas-based Christian non-profit Living Hope Ministries, offers users access to audio and video sermons, devotions, as well as testimonials
According to this year’s report, 571 companies received a 100 percent rating in the index, including Apple, Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook and other tech giants.
After receiving backlash, fellow tech giants Apple, Microsoft and Amazon have removed versions of the Living Hope app from their app stores.
Several companies said they took down the app for violating their policies.
‘We have been urging Google to remove this app because it is life-threatening to LGBTQ youth and also clearly violates the company’s own standards,’ a Human Rights Campaign spokesperson told Dailymail.com.
‘Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have taken action to remove the app from their platforms, but so far Google has refused despite our warnings about the dangers.’
Living Hope has previously denied that it promotes or offers conversion therapy.
‘We believe that by aligning our hearts and minds with the Creator’s intention in our creation,’ the company told the Verge. ‘The app is a free resource as are most of our services.’
A Google spokesperson declined to comment to Dailymail.com.
The Google Play Store prohibits any apps that violate its rules around hate speech, sexually explicit content, violence, bullying and harassment, sensitive content and that promote the sale of dangerous products.
New York State Senator Brad Hoylman repeated his calls for Google to take down the app.
Hoylman authored a bill prohibiting conversion therapy in New York that was recently signed into law.
According to this year’s report, 571 companies received a 100 percent rating in the index, including Apple, Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook and other tech giants. Google, shown at the bottom, was suspended from the equality index for its failure to remove the Living Hope app
Google is facing pressure to remove an app from its Play Store that promotes controversial gay conversion therapy. Apple, Amazon and Microsoft have removed the app (stock image)
‘It’s an outrage that Google continues to drag their feet on this issue of great importance to our community and I strongly endorse HRC’s decision to suspend them from their annual Corporate Equality Index,’ Hoylman told Dailymail.com.
‘…As one of the world’s largest technology companies that professes to value equality Google should know better.
‘There’s no place for homophobia, on- or off-line in our society. I call on Google once again to remove this offensive app immediately,’ he added.
Hoylman also pointed to Google’s Play Store policies around hate speech, in which the firm says it prohibits apps that ‘incite hatred against individuals or groups’ based on sexual orientation, among other characteristics.
‘[The app] is degrading LGBTQ people, which can be the basis of hatred towards this community,’ Hoylman said.
‘As the only openly-LGBTQ senator in New York representing a district with a large number of LGBTQ people and Google’s NYC headquarters, I find their position mind-boggling and personally offensive.’
It’s not the first time Google has run into issues around which apps it chooses to host on the Play Store.
Earlier this month, Google rebuffed calls from U.S. lawmakers to take down a Saudi government app, called Absher, that tracks and restricts the travel of women in Saudi Arabia.
Google said it reviewed the app and determined it did not violate its Play Store policies.
Apple faced similar backlash for its failure to remove the Absher app from its App Store.
And in 2011, Apple removed a separate gay conversion therapy app from its App Store run by now-defunct ex-gay ministry Exodus International.
