Apple now selling iPhone app that flags “sex offenders” convicted merely of being gay
As of today, the #4 bestselling paid app in Apple’s entire iPhone store is “Offender Locator,” by ThinAir Wireless, which links into your GPS and maps the registered sex offenders near you. A couple of mainstream articles have discussed the pros and cons of “Offender Locator,” but none has mentioned the fact that the app names and locates some people who were convicted only of the crime of sodomy.
Although state laws that make consensual gay sex illegal were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas, they remain on the books in many states. In some of those states, people who were convicted under state sodomy laws are still required to register as sex offenders, and are flagged by “Offender Locator.”
For example, a Ridgeland, Mississippi man that “Offender Locator” warns you about was convicted in 1994 of “Unnatural Intercourse” under Mississippi Code § 97-29-59, that state’s anti-sodomy law, which still stands and has been held to prohibit both consensual gay sex and consensual heterosexual oral sex. And under § 45-33-23, that man is still required to register as a sex offender. According to a website published by the state of Mississippi listing registered sex offenders, the man’s information was current as of June 24, 2009.
In spite of the Lawrence decision, some states have not just left anti-sodomy laws on the books but even used them as the basis for arrests. In 2008, two men in Raleigh, North Carolina, were charged with a “Crime Against Nature” in connection with a domestic dispute. Although the charges were later dropped, one of the men lost his $450 bail bond fee. Three years earlier, North Carolina state senator Ellie Kinnaird (D-Orange) had introduced legislation to eliminate the “Crime Against Nature” law on the grounds that anti-sodomy laws are now unconstitutional under Lawrence, but her bill died in the state legislature.
Among other people required to register as sex offenders, and would thus also be subject to listing in the iPhone app, would be teenagers convicted of statutory rape—for example, in Massachusetts, where I went to high school, that might include a 17-year-old high school senior that had sex with his 15-1/2-year-old girlfriend, a fellow senior. That’s not a thought experiment—it’s a real case, and a motion to dismiss it was denied; if convicted, this boy will wind up on “Offender Locator,” too.
The imperfections in our rule of criminal law have resulted in many wrongs through the years. Gay and lesbian people have suffered more than most. Yet decisions like Lawrence give us hope that as a society awakens to the possibility of tolerance, our rule of law can, in time, become less imperfect.
Perhaps ThinAir Wireless would plead neutrality—that it aims simply to make public information more accessible. Yes, these sex offender registries were already online, and, in theory, already public. But the app’s menacing logo and the way it conveys information—representing people convicted of being gay as GPS dots flashing across your map, like obstacles in a video game—tell a different, more public, more accessible story. “Offender Locator” is not just one more cruel punishment for people that have already been maltreated by centuries of codified intolerance; it is, in its novel use of technology, unusual in its cruelty.
August 1st, 2009 at 8:15 am
[...] being claimed in the Blind Taste blog that a popular iPhone App which tells you where your friendly neighbourhood [...]
October 6th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I feel that if someones BORN sexual preference such as GAY can be published then its only fair that Heterosexual acts are published as well! This is Discrimination at its best! Why is someone’s personal sexual preference being placed for the public eye to see? I feel that people who reside in these states, who pay taxes to there states have every right to challenge this. I personally would not pay my hard earned money to a state have someone slander my name & reputation. I am OUTRAGED by this! This is why Gays need to stand up and fight for their rights.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
just seems a bit sad and over the top to be honest – a little bit more of live and let live would not go amiss in this world. Someones sex preferences ie if they are straight or gay should not be on display to the world. Its just wrong that we label people in this way – if we all the same, sex preference, likes, dislikes and beliefs and so on wouldnt the world be a boring place?
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:44 pm
I personally would not pay my hard earned money to a state have someone slander my name & reputation. I
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March 18th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
i think everybody have each way. so don’t underestimate everyone if they have strange in their life, like gay, although they have sexual disorder,they proper to get the decent life like other. don’t judge it bad. they have equal rights.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
gay and acts have been admired as well as condemned throughout recorded history, depending on the form they took and the culture in which they occurred.although, gay same with other.they need sex although with the different way to partner in their life
March 18th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
you do not need to hide who we really are, so you just pointed out. The most important is to do what’s best for yourself and others. I think gay is also a normal human being just like us. so they also have a right to live as we do.
March 18th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
gay is not always bad even though he had a sexual disorder he was also human beings who need sex even with his partner of this type. we do not know whether they perceived the gay, because every human being has their own lives and how their respective
March 18th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
I think gay is not bad, they did not lose us. and I think it was supposed we appreciate and respect others if the gays do not disturb our privacy. learn is to respect others, if you want at the price.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:12 am
it should also have gay’s rights, treatment, and the same recognition as the other most of it. being gay is a choice of life. and we can not force a choice of other people’s lives, we also can not force other people to be what we want it.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:46 am
continue to fight for your rights! evidence that you also have a good contribution to the country. the difference is not a hindrance to grow and develop into better. I think this is not an issue that needs to be big right.
March 19th, 2010 at 1:12 am
not forever it is a strange disorder. sexual disorders such as gay is a disorder that is owned by a man who likes sex. although the disorder was strange when seen but it is the right of each person and it must be appreciated
March 19th, 2010 at 1:26 am
might be gay was very difficult. especially if the added with improper treatment of them. we should embrace it rather than away from them or even scorn them. do not judge people just from one perspective only and do not judge someone from the outside just.