We got dragged into this one, so we might as well wrap it up, eh?
SBS TV in Australia just let us know that the "Is my son gay?" app apparently has been removed from the Android Market. If you'll recall, that's the app that asks such not-so-poignant questions as "Is his best friend a girl?", "Has he ever been in a fight" and "Does he like team sports?" It's also the app that sparked a Twitter campaign calling for Google -- and Android Central -- to remove the application from the Android Market. On Sept. 27, AllOut.org (@allout) tweeted the following:
Demand that @Google & @AndroidCentral dump homophobic "Is My Son #Gay?" app NOW, no excuses! #LGBT
Suffice it to say, that was retweeted. A lot. We lost track of how many times over the past week, though it finally trickled off, as these things tend to do. (Though not before we ended up having a short back-and-forth with none other than @BoyGeorge. That's something we never thought we'd see.)
While we certainly appreciate (and believe it or not are quite humbled by) our standing as the biggest and best Android community on the web, we're not Google. We do not have the power to remove (or approve, for that matter) applications for the Android Market. That's Google. We're not Google. We're not Android. We're the leading source for news, reviews, and opinions about Android. And as such, we suggeted more effective ways for letting Google you found the app was offensive, such as flagging it as inappropriate in the Market. We're willing to bet more than a few of you did so.
Anyhoo, back to the "Is my son Gay?" app. Turns out there was a little more to the story than we knew. According to a story by the SBS reporter who contacted us, the app actually was commissioned by a Frenchman who, in addition to being gay himself, is releasing a book by the same name, and that the app was "developed 'with a fun approach.' "
We're not French. And, speaking in the pluralis maiestatis here, we're not gay. So maybe we all missed something in the translation. And we certainly welcome the debate over what kind of apps should be excluded from the Android Market -- or if any should be excluted. It's a great debate, and one that needs to be rekindled from time to time. (And one that we at Android Central don't all agree on.) But, ultimately it's up to Google to approve or remove apps from the Android Market. Not us.
So the app's been removed. It's gone, and in the great scheme of things, we're pretty safe in wrapping up this saga thusly:
It won't be missed.
