Canada opens arms to persecuted refugees

Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has announced a pilot project to help refugees persecuted for their sexual orientation.

The Star reports that through the project, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will work with the Rainbow Refugee Committee to share the cost of sponsoring gay, lesbian, transgender, transsexual and bisexual refugees overseas to Canada.

The department will provide CAN$100,000 in assistance to cover three months of income support for the refugees upon their arrival, while the Rainbow committee will offer orientation services, accommodation, food and other basic needs.

“These funds are a welcome first step in response to the crisis facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people around the globe, at a time when 77 countries continue to criminalize homosexuality and five prescribe the death penalty,” said Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada, the country's largest LGBT human rights organization.

“The Rainbow Refugee Committee provides critical support to asylum seekers fleeing homophobic and transphobic persecution in their countries of origin.”

A private sponsorship programme will also be pushed to ensure the future of the program.

http://www.gaynz.com

Lebanese Gay Rights Activists Call for Legal Reform

By most accounts, Lebanon is the gay-friendliest country in the Arab world.  But activists say behind closed doors, sexual minorities are often abused in this deeply patriarchal country.  They call for the abolishment of a law that essentially makes homosexuality a crime.. 

At this club, it is just as cool for men to dance with other men, as it is for them to dance with women.  That's because this is a gay-friendly party - an unusual event in the region.

But Beirut is different - complete with gay clubs and gay-friendly bars and restaurants, it is unique in the region, and even in other parts of Lebanon.

Georges Azzi is one of the founders of Helem, one of the only organizations in the Arab world that openly works to protect and provide health care for people that self-identify as LGBT.  That’s lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. 

Azzi says the nightlife in the capital doesn’t mean Lebanon is necessarily a bastion of tolerance.  Like in the rest of the Middle East and much of the world beyond, gays in Lebanon commonly suffer physical and psychological abuse.  The difference, he says, is that here, it’s mostly in private.

Despite Beirut’s modern façade, the country remains entrenched in old-world values.  Azzi says the community he serves often fears for their safety, or even their lives inside their homes. 

"There are people who were forced to stay at home, forced into marriage, or beaten by their families, or physically or verbally abused by their families or someone in the neighborhood," he said.

And when gay people are attacked in Lebanon, he says, they hardly ever seek legal protection, because technically, in Lebanon it is illegal to be gay. 

The law is based on old French law that makes so-called "unnatural" sexual activity a crime.  Azzi says as long as this article remains in the constitution, LGBT people remain vulnerable. "If you’ve been persecuted by your family, you cannot seek any protection from the police because, officially, you are illegal," he said.

Some political activists say resolving civil rights issues require social change more than legal change. 

Ayman Mhanna, a member of the Democratic Renewal Movement’s executive committee, says his party doesn’t have an official position on the law, but he believes change will be slow moving in this patriarchal country, regardless of constitutional reform. "The real struggle goes beyond what is written in the law and not in the law.  It’s an issue of awareness- social awareness, civic awareness- fighting a lot of misconceptions.  That is an uphill battle," he said.

In other Arab countries, the battle has not even begun.  In many places, gays are systematically arrested, beaten and threatened.   In some countries, like Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan, the official punishment for being gay is death.

Even in Lebanon, where people are openly gay and the punishment of a maximum of one year in prison is not usually enforced, activists say abuses still happen on the streets, and in the workplace.  Alex Paulikevitch says if an employer finds out a worker is gay, the worker is likely to lose his or her job. 

And on the streets of Beirut, Alex says gay men are subjected to constant verbal abuse, and occasionally physical attacks.   

Transgender people or people that appear overtly gay have it worse, he says.  They are often attacked, and he personally knows many who have fled the country.   LGBT people are followed, watched and sometimes even battered with stones.  He says violence also worsens from time to time, when the local media vilifies sexual minorities, running programs that treat homosexuality as a disease or a dysfunction.  

But in Lebanon, a country of deep social, political and religious divides, it is also not hard to find the other extreme: supportive, gay-friendly businesses and organizations seeking rights for a multitude of people, including LGBT people.  

In 2009, Alex participated in what is believed to be the Arab world’s first gay rights protest, demonstrating against the public beating of two gay men by uniformed officers in Beirut.    

Slowly the country is growing more tolerant, he adds, but for now, when he has a problem, he has to protect himself.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east

Actor Bruno Langley, known to millions for his role as gay Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street, will be taking his place at the starting line-up of the BUPA Great Manchester Run

Actor Bruno Langley, known to millions for his role as gay Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street, will be taking his place at the starting line-up of the BUPA Great Manchester Run on 15 May.

He will be running in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Bruno, who returns to our screens in the popular ITV1 soap at Easter, is also performing nightly in the stage production of Calendar Girls.

The young actor is encouraging those yet to sign up, and those already with their places secured in this year’s popular 10km road race, to consider supporting the RNLI whose volunteer lifeboat crews rescued 8,313 people and whose lifeguards assisted 18,775 people in 2010.

Bruno, who ran the BUPA Great Manchester Run in 2008 in aid of the RNLI, says: "I really admire those who have a real commitment to helping people who get into trouble at sea or while making the most of the UK’s beaches. It’s often taken for granted that RNLI lifeboat crews and lifeguards will be there if something does go wrong but not everyone remembers that the RNLI is a charity.

"The RNLI is reliant on voluntary donations to continue its lifesaving work so I’m happy to commit some of my time to help raise awareness that you can run for this fantastic charity and take part in a brilliant Manchester event at the same time."

The RNLI still has places available for this year’s BUPA Great Manchester Run, which takes place on Sunday 15 May.

RNLI Events Manager, Lisa Rutter said: "As one of the largest 10km road races in the UK, the run is a great opportunity for people to see the city while testing their fitness.

"We’re expecting to have more than 100 runners as part of Team RNLI and we’re delighted that Bruno is helping us raise the profile of the charity as well as taking part. I would encourage you to join him as part of our team and help RNLI lifeboat crews and lifeguards to save lives."

Registration for the BUPA Great Manchester Run is £30 and runners are asked to raise a minimum of £150 sponsorship which will help RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews and RNLI lifeguards continue their lifesaving work.

To enter, log onto www.rnli.org.uk/events.
http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory

Archbishop Dolan Compares Same-Sex Marriage To Incest

-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
“I mean, I love my mom. I don’t have the right to marry her, okay? There are certain rights and attractions in life that are very beautiful and noble but don’t entitle you to marriage.” Archbishop Timothy Dolan made those statements to 60 Minutes Overtime. The problem for Dolan is that the Catholic Church has a history of turning the other way while consanguine relatives marry each other. In fact, they were able to get Church approval to do just that, more often than not.

He also stated to Morley Safer:

“I have a strong desire to play shortstop for the Yankees. I don’t have a right to, because I don’t have what it takes. And that would be what the Church would say about marriage. We would say marriage by nature, marriage by definition is between a man and woman for life, giving children. Don’t tamper with the definition.”

The advocate also reported:

Pressed by Safer to explain how exactly marriage equality would harm heterosexual marriages, Dolan responded, “Because where then would the tampering stop?”

Let us make something very clear here- the ‘nature’ of marriage as being defined as being between a man and a woman is something fairly new in the world, and is something pushed by Christian based cultures such as those found in the West. Many cultures had marriages which were not based on the one man-one woman dynamic, but that is part of the problem, is it not?

Men like Dolan are not just homophobic bigots, they are ethnocentric bigots. They do not believe that any other culture or religion engages in marriage of any type. That is easy to see. Islamic cultures have marriage between one man and up to four women. The Celtic cultures had, under Brehon law, marriages without gender specificity. A man could marry another man, a woman another woman, a man could marry two or more women, a woman could marry two or more men.

The thing is, Dolan is wrong. There is no actual movement to allow incestuous marriages, and an easy counter to that is to hold up King Charles II of Spain as a really good reason for why incest should not be allowed. After centuries of inbreeding, Charles II was so deformed and congenitally stupid that he made a horrendous ruler. When they opened him up to do the autopsy, they found that his internal organs were badly twisted. Simply put, incest has real consequences for the next generation. Homosexuality does not- nor does polyamory.

Both homosexuality and polyamory (to cover both polygamy and polyandry) as recognized marital forms have no issues what so ever. Cultures have had such marriages and not collapsed, but if you look at the slow degradation that was done to the Egyptian pharaohs over the centuries due to brothers and sisters marrying, you see why incest is bad.

Simply put, from a rational and ethnographical standpoint, Dolan is wrong. What is more, Dolan is out of step with Catholics in the United States. Last night, Lawrence O’Donnell made an excellent point with regards to the issue of Catholic support for marriage equality, and that video follows.

Simply put, this is not about same-sex marriage, this is about the fact that the Roman Catholic Church cannot get over the fact that society is moving beyond the religious and into the secular, and that destroys their power.

http://lezgetreal.com/

Gay Dude For Pres. F*Off -Ricky Martin Luv u but F*Off-Target r u anti gay? F.O

 

 
BY MATT MILLS – A gay guy has announced a bid for the US Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Fred Karger, his name is. He’s never run for political office before, but he reportedly served as an advisor to presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush I.
Here's what he said when asked how he could reconcile being a Republican with the party’s irrational, stubborn and tiresome stand on gay issues:

"Being a gay Republican is kind of an oxymoron," he told CBS news. "I have been a fighter in my party. I have always been on the more moderate side, but I'm also a protégée of Lee Atwater. We need to open up this party, and that's one of my reasons for running. The party should not be dominated by one faction or another. It should be open to all."

Take a good look at him. This may be the last time you hear his name mentioned on mainstream television. 

I love you Fred, now fuck off.

* * *
And speaking of gay guys who hid in the closet for years, building impressive careers on the backs of oppressed gay people, and who came out, to great adulation, only after the cat got out of the bag and they realized they were going to be okay….

The Pink News reports that Ricky Martin performed for a group of managers from US retailer Target, just weeks after Lady Gaga kicked them to the curb for donating money to rightwing, anti-gay causes.

I love you too, Ricky, now fuck off.

Now A Parody song by Sean Chapin on Target

Mama Sheen Goes After The Rug Of The Donald>Charlie Locks Lips w/ Jimmy Kimmel

It's On! Charlie Sheen's Mom Goes After The Donald

by JOSH GROSSBERG

The Media Circuit/INFphoto.com

Memo to Donald Trump: Don't piss off Mama Sheen or else there will be (tiger) blood.

In an email to friends obtained by Rupert Murdoch's iPad tabloid The Daily, Charlie Sheen's mother, Janet Templeton Sheen, slammed The Donald for telling the media that he warned Brooke Mueller's parents not to let their daughter marry her son because "he's a disaster."

On the contrary, notes the matriarch, if anything it's the other way around.

MORE: Brooke Mueller Lets Charlie Sheen Off the Restraining Hook

"THE DONALD IS SPREADING SUCH VICIOUS LIES ABOUT CHARLIE. IS THERE ANY WAY TO STOP HIM?" Janet fumed in the caps-lock missive, though it's unclear when she sent it. "BROOKE...HAD BEEN TO 13 REHABS BEFORE MEETING CHARLIE. SHE DRANK AND DRUGGED DURING PREGNANCY AND HAD SUCH A PARTY GIRL REP BEFORE SHE MET HIM."

Martin Sheen's missus for nearly 50 years was referring specifically to the caution Trump uttered after running into Brooke's mother, Moira Fiore, who's a member of the mogul's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump repeated that same concern earlier this month a sit-down with ABC News.

"Well I know Charlie Sheen," he said. "He married Brooke, who's a member of Mar-a-Lago, the parents are members of Mar-a-Lago, and I told the parents: 'Don't let your daughter marry him. I think he's wonderful, but he's a disaster. Don't let your daughter marry him!"

Like a Tiger Mom defending her cubs, Janet set the record straight.

"DONALD HAS GONE ON NATIONAL TV TWICE TO SAY CHARLIE BROUGHT HER INTO THIS SCENE," she noted. "ACTUALLY, HE HAD BEEN SOBER FOR SOME TIME BEFORE HE HAD MET HER AND WE WERE CONVINCED THAT SHE WOULD BE HIS DOWNFALL. SHE IS ONLY HAPPY WHEN SHE KNOWS HE IS IN TROUBLE OR MISERABLE. SHE IS SO VERY SICK."

Not so, according to Brooke's mother,  who has been helping take care of the pair's two-year-old twin boys, Bob and Max, ever since Sheen went rogue earlier this month and her daughter started a sober-living program.

"[Janet's email was] definitely from a scared mother who is very angry and is trying to blame everyone other than the one responsible for his own actions," Moira told The Daily. "That's just despicable how she can think her daughter-in-law can force her son to drink or do drugs. How outrageous!"

Considering Brooke's in rehab, that's chutzpah. In any case, the estranged couple are said to have reached a private custody agreement despite lingering questions over Sheen's recent "winning" behavior.

The latter is something Janet Sheen is keenly aware of, hence she issued her own caution to Trump.

The billionaire businessman and potential Republican presidential candidate, she said, "NEEDS TO STOP" shooting his mouth off about the matter as "CHARLIE HAS DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE TO HIMSELF AND NEEDS NO ONE KICKING HIM WHEN HE'S DOWN."

It looks like perhaps The Apprentice boss just may be heeding Janet's advice and keeping his trap shut lest he be raked over the coals again (a far different roast than the one Comedy Central just threw for him).

In a statement to E! News about the accusation of meddling, Trump was nothing but complimentary to the estranged couple.

"Brooke is a lovely young woman and Charlie is a wonderful guy. I know and like them both," he said.

Well, that'll make Mom feel better!

—Additional Reporting by Ashley Fultz

VIDEO: Charlie Sheen Locks Lips With Jimmy Kimmel

 http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b232733_its_on_charlie_sheens_mom_goes_after.html#ixzz1HYYV57Iu

Sexual Assault Victim Arrested for Recording Officer Misconduct

Twenty-year-old Tiawanda Moore went to Chicago Police Headquarters to report being fondled by an officer. But Internal Affairs didn't want to take her complaint. After asking for new investigators and being refused, Moore turned on her Blackberry recorder to document this second instance of police misconduct. When the investigators realized they were being taped, they promptly arrested Moore for eavesdropping, a charge that carries a sentence of up to 15 years.

Meanwhile, as Moore awaits trial in May, no disciplinary action has been taken against the officer who groped her. (Not to mention the officers who refused to accept her complaint. Moore's lawyer, Robert Johnson, reports that officials " investigation the claim not is>promptly arrested Moore for eavesdropping, a charge that carries a sentence of up to 15 years.

Meanwhile, as Moore awaits trial in May, no disciplinary action has been taken against the officer who groped her. (Not to mention the officers who refused to accept her complaint. Moore's lawyer, Robert Johnson, reports that officials "claim the investigation is not completed" -- even though it's been over half-a-year since Moore attempted to make her complaint. As the "investigation" drags on for no apparent reason, the police officer has not been temporarily suspended, and is free to continue assaulting and harassing other women.

The Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women has taken up Tiawanda Moore's cause and launched a petition on her behalf on Change.org, calling for Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez to drop the eavesdropping charges and for the police sexual misconduct investigation to be undertaken in a timely manner.

Moore didn't know that by turning on a recorder she was committing an illegal act, and the idea that attempting to document misconduct by police would put you away for 15 years is ludicrous. On a broader level, a law such as this one is designed to protect law enforcement at the expense of the people they're supposed to serve, fuels a culture deeply opposed to transparency, and puts victims in jail while giving corrupt officers a free pass.

In addition, the law in question has a pretty key exception: it doesn't apply to an individual who holds a "reasonable suspicion" that they're about to be victim of a crime. Given that Moore was a subject of police misconduct at the time she turned on her cellphone, it seems pretty clear that the charges against her are bogus. The arrest and her pending trial seem more results of a vendetta by people caught in the act of doing wrong than a reasonable response to her actions -- by people who know Moore is a vulnerable target without the resources to fight back against a cover-up by some bad Chicago cops.

Unless you help her. Join with the Chicago Taskforce in calling for the ridiculous charges against a sexual assault victim to be dropped and for a real investigation to hold the perpetrator accountable. If you live in the Chicago area and are interested in attending Moore's trial (tentatively scheduled for May 3), you can email chitaskforce@gmail.com for more info.

Photo credit: Honou

http://news.change.org

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.

You’re Gay

Last night little Destruction came home from the park and announced
that some bullies called him gay.  My mind instantly went to the two
 little boys who recently committed suicide after receiving  taunts like this.

I turned my head and asked, “What is a gay man?”

He is someone who loves other men like you and daddy love each other,”
 answered Destruction

“And”, I said.

“They are just like everyone else”, he responded.

“Therefore”, I stated “if they are just like everyone else, calling you gay is
 not really an insult now is it?  Calling someone gay as an insult is just
 someone who is  to dumb to come up with a real insult.”

He stopped and thought over what I stated and said, “you know what,
you’re right mom.”

Score one for momma.  I have always taken
the time to show him when I can images of gays and lesbians and point out that their love is the same as
the love he sees shared between his father and I.
 I think that because we have made an issue from
a very early age of pointing out that difference does
 not mean less than, this line of thought was very
 easy for my little Destruction to understand.

While it is very important that we demand that our
 schools enforce a zero tolerance policy for
 homophobia and transphobia, we also need to
 teach real and practical lessons in our home.  Despite the fact that funds like
 to speak about gays taking over, or removing rights from heterosexuals,
 the truth is that being bi-sexual, gay, or lesbian, still means that one exists
with a stigmatized identity.

I don’t know what my child's sexuality will be but regardless I want him to
 grow with a fundamental respect for all human beings and that begins
 by affirming life in all of its manifestations.  Just as children don’t perceive
 people of different races as inherently less than, they don’t see a GLBT
identity as deviant.  We actively teach them through the agents of
 socialization, that heterosexuality is the norm and the most desired sexuality.

Teaching my child about equality and respect for human beings is part

of my activism and it is part of how I show
my love  for them. 
A mind that is filled withhate does not reason,
it simply repeats ignorant rhetoric.  We cannot
count on our schools to teach our children
because the teachers and administration are all
steeped in the same heterosexist, transphobic
 culture as the obvious bigots. Unless one is
 committed to fighting underserved privilege on a daily basis,  one will
necessarily pass along the message of intolerance. 

Working to end  privilege is a lifetime journey and much of what we take
 for granted as normal has been specifically constructed to ensure the
 maintenance of a hierarchy of bodies.  Since most will face some area of stigmatization, teaching children to respect and maintain hierarchy as a
normal social order means that at some point we are affirming that they
 are less than. The power structure that we teach them to embrace will
 at some point work to deny their rights, or justify violence or hate speech
against them.

I choose to teach my child that there is power in  love and community.
 I choose to teach my child that ALL PEOPLE MATTER.  As I go
 through this journey, I am cognizant that even as an ally there is much
that I still must learn but even the acknowledgement of ignorance is
 powerful in a world that is committed to being purposefully obtuse.
 Ignorance is a temporary state of being if one chooses to learn whereas
 blind hatred turns the heart to a bitter pill.  Choose life, choose love
 and talk to your children everyday because to avoid such critical
 lessons is to turn your child over to the forces of intolerance and hatred.

This Posting appeared at womanist-musings web page. It was posted
 a while ago, but I thought it applies today like it did two years ago.
 adamfoxie*

New Orleans Police Unfairly Going For LGBT People

A recently released report by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) found a pattern of systemic problems within the New Orleans Police Department, including use of lethal force, racial profiling and discriminatory policing.

One particularly disturbing section of the report (.pdf) found that police unfairly targeted gay and transgender people.

Under a 205-year-old Louisiana law, authorities can require people convicted of selling their bodies to register as a sex offender. The law classifies solicitation of oral or anal sex as a crime against nature.

"We also found reasonable cause to believe that NOPD practices lead to discriminatory treatment of LGBT individuals," the report said. "In particular, transgender women complained that NOPD officers improperly target and arrest them for prostitution, sometimes fabricating evidence of solicitation for compensation."

"Moreover, transgender residents reported that officers are likelier, because of their gender identity, to charge them under the state's 'crimes against nature' statute -- a statute whose history reflects anti-LGBT sentiment. Multiple convictions under the 'crimes against nature' statute, unlike Louisiana's general prostitution statute, require registration as a sex offender."

Nearly 40 percent of the Orleans Parish sex offender registry was made up of people convicted of solicitation crimes, according to the report. In addition, 80 percent of those convicted of crimes against nature were African American, suggesting a racial bias.

In February, several women and a transgender man filed suit against the parish, arguing that requiring them to register as sex offenders was unconstitutional and discriminatory.

"The toll it takes is devastating," Deon Haywood, director of Women With A Vision, told reporters. "They did what they did to survive and put food on the table."

Louisiana is the only state with a sex offender registration requirement for those convicted of selling oral or anal sex.

By David Edwards

http://www.rawstory.com

Westboro Baptist Church Will Picket Elizabeth Taylor's Funeral

  (Credit: Getty)

(CBS) - The friends and family at Elizabeth Taylor's funeral will apparently be joined by the serial funeral protesters of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Yes, the Westboro Baptist Church - the Kansas-based organization with a history of holding controversial and politically inflammatory protests - has announced that its members plan to picket the star's funeral, according to reports.

TMZ reports that Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro leader Fred Phelps, sounded off on Twitter Wednesday about the planned protest: 

"RIP Elizabeth Taylor is in hell as sure as you're reading this & getting mad as a wet hen. She should've obeyed God. Too late!" 

Taylor was known for using her star power for humanitarian work, in particular, helping victims of AIDS. That has, apparently, made her funeral a target for the media-baiters at Westboro Baptist and their sometimes inexplicable and usually repugnant signage. The Academy Award-winning actress died yesterday morning 

after a long battle with congestive heart failure. She was 79. A statement released by the family says that a private funeral will be held later this week.

Apple Pulls The Gay Cure, Is There a Cure for Bad Apps?

Apple has pulled the "Gay Cure" app and may target others, but is that really the responsibility of companies running app store?

Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM - and even Amazon - are all in the app business. Some much, much more than others. These virtual software stores are considered something of a retail revolution. You can find virtually any kind of software in each of these application repositories: They're like department stores full of products right on your smartphone. They don't sell towels, Tupperware, or toys, but applications are, as we know, incredibly versatile. They can do almost anything, and that's where the trouble begins.

Considering that this is all just software—how much trouble can you really get into with an app? I've heard of disgusting ones, like the Fart App, and products that feature truly objectionable or horrid ideas (one had something to do with shaking a baby). In that way, these app stores are like your local library, which features as many books as possible without much censorship, if any at all. There's great literature and high art and, one shelf over, graphic novels depicting—if you've ever readWatchmen - a stranded pirate using dead shipmates as bloated flotation devices. If you don't want to read this kind of story, they you can walk right by that shelf.

In an app store as large as Apple's (300,000 apps and counting), it's easy to miss most apps—people tend to see the Featured and Popular ones. A search, though, can help you discover apps for all sorts of topics. We learned this week, for example, that all the major app stores, Apple's, RIM's and Google's, feature apps that can help drunk drivers elude DUI checkpoints. U.S. Senators took exception to this and have now called for their removal from all the app stores. It's a noble cause. Drunk driving is a scourge on society. Over a quarter of a million people are injured in drunk-driving accidents each year and some 13,000 die. No one should be evading DUI checkpoints—they might want to avoid the liquor store, though—is there an app for that?

This isn't the first, nor will it be the last, questionable app category. Apple, which has both the largest and most popular app store, has been dealing with questionable apps for years. A booty shaking app was another notable winner of the headline "Most Offensive App Ever." There was the aforementioned Baby Shaker (since pulled) and just this week a Gay Cure App (also pulled). Not every app is so obviously outside the lines of good sense or taste. Earlier this year at CES, I saw a number of apps that turned your phones into speed trap detectors. Run any one of them and you could avoid ticket hot zones while going as fast as you want when the cops aren't looking. This would seem to encourage reckless behavior, yet I don't remember anyone getting particularly upset about their existence.

Sometimes it's not the content of the apps that's the problem, but what's lurking underneath the surface. Last month Google reached out and pulled Android apps not only from the store, but directly off Android users' phones to protect them from malware-carrying apps. Apparently these products would do one thing on the surface while trying to secretly steal your personal info, but only got fairly useless device identifying codes.

Consumers were not only shocked at what Google found, but the way in which it took action. As most people know, Apple's App Store is one of the most tightly controlled product markets around. Apple vets each and every one of the apps and the approval process can be arduous. Most assumed that the Android Market was a bit more like the wild west. There isn't really a vetting process. Google's Android Developers guide counsel much testing, but if you follow the guidelines, including obtaining a "suitable cryptographic key", you can publish the app and then offer it in the Android Market or even from your own Web servers. So it came as quite a surprise that Google could somehow identify and nuke specific apps right off anyone's phone. On the other hand, they were acting in consumers' best interests.

I am glad Google saved consumers from themselves by removing malware-infested apps, and I applaud Apple's decision to stop offering Shaken Baby and, more recently, Gay Cure. On the other hand, this is a very slippery slope. Many people already complain about Apple's often confusing, inconsistent, and seemingly cavalier attitude toward app approval, denial, and removal. Are we saying that this attitude is okay when we agree with the actions? Similarly, doesn't it concern people that Google can reach out and touch any phone running Android?

Microsoft regularly sends system updates to everyone running Windows, but we choose whether or not to install them and no one at Microsoft seems interested in removing products from our machines. If they did start removing client applications, we'd cry foul. But what if Microsoft pulled "scareware"? You know, the anti-malware apps you were tricked into downloading and that only have one real purpose—to harm you and your computer? Microsoft won't do that, but it is applying Apple-like control over the Windows Phone App development process.

Windows Phone developers submit their apps for certification. That process includes verifying "that the application is well-behaved, works for the languages and markets indicated, and does not adversely affect the overall health of the phone." That language is vague enough to give Microsoft a lot of latitude in what it lets through, blocks, or even decides to pull post-publish.

For better or worse, this is the new world of application creation, delivery, and access. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and RIM are now the gate keepers. They're not perfect, though, Apple has so many products flowing in that Baby Shakers and Gay Cures regularly slip through. Google doesn't have any real checks and balances, but I bet that won't last. Microsoft has just 10,000 Windows Phone apps right now and I suspect a somewhat more manageable flow of new applicants. That may mean they'll have fewer useless and offensive apps, but I bet that will change, too.

The point is, what do we want these companies to do? Provide the seemingly necessary checks and balances to protect our phones, tablets, and even sensibilities? Or do we want consumers to beware and stop downloading bad apps and application developers to build better, more useful and far less objectionable apps.

By Lance Ulanoff

http://www.pcmag.com