Apple Seen Exercising Double Standard on Gay Content in Censorship of SAGA Comic Book

Apple is banning the sale of a popular comic book through any of its iOS devices over two "postage stamp-sized images" of gay sex, while previous issues of the comic which featured larger group scenes of heterosexual sex, sailed through, the New Statesman reports:

The comic in question is Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples' SAGA, one of the New Statesman's best graphic novels of last autumn. Issue twelve of the series opens with one of the characters, Prince Robot IV, injured on a battlefield. On his TV-screen head (look, it's a thing in the series) images of gay porn are visible, as the damage takes its toll. You can take a look at the pages in question here and here, and while the small visible images are certainly explicit, they're far from erotic. They work in humorous juxtaposition to the chaos of the battleground, and underline the artificial nature of the character in question.

The paper adds: "It's hard not to conclude that the rejection is homophobic. Even if it doesn't come from explicitly homophobic guidelines on Apple's part – and the company is notoriously opaque about how its App Store approval process works, so we can't know that for certain – the outcome must be judged on its own merits."

UPDATE: Apparently this was all nonsense:

As a partner of Apple, we have an obligation to respect its policies for apps and the books offered in apps.  Based on our understanding of those policies, we believed that Saga #12 could not be made available in our app, and so we did not release it today.

We did not interpret the content in question as involving any particular sexual orientation, and frankly that would have been a completely irrelevant consideration under any circumstance.

Given this, it should be clear that Apple did not reject Saga #12.

This Week in Unnecessary Censorship: VIDEO

Among this weeks subjects in Jimmy Kimmel's weekly tribute to the FCC: Scott Pelley, Dennis Rodman, Donald Trump, Pat Robertson, Sean Hannity, and Judge Alex.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Texas High School Pulls Lesbian Couple's Photo from Yearbook: VIDEO

San Antonio's Brennan High School is under fire for removing an affectionate photo of Felicia Rivera and Lalani Hernandez, a lesbian couple, from the Valentine's Day page in the school yearbook, KENS5 reports:

Rivera is lesbian. She said recently a school photographer snapped a photo of her holding her girlfriend on campus.

The photo was selected for the Valentine's Day page but was later rejected. Rivera said it was removed only after the yearbook supervisor discovered the picture showcased a lesbian couple.

"You shouldn't be discriminated against just because you're gay," Rivera said. "You shouldn't worry about people bashing you or talking behind your back just for you to be you."

Rivera's father, Felix, encourages his daughter to be herself and he's behind her 100 percent as she tries to have the photo reinstated. Felicia has gathered about 200 student signatures calling for the photo to be placed in the yearbook.

Watch their report and an awesome interview with the awesome dad, AFTER THE JUMP...

2012, the Year in Unnecessary Censorship: VIDEO

Jimmy Kimmel rounds up the "best of" his weekly hilarious tributes to the FCC.

Check it out, AFTER THE JUMP...

This Week in Unnecessary Censorship: VIDEO

Jimmy Kimmel's weekly tribute to the FCC included moments from the presidential debate, the campaign trail, and this muddy moment from Survivor: Phillippines.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Greek State TV Cuts Gay Kiss from 'Downton Abbey'

Greek state television cut a gay kiss between the footman character Thomas and a visiting Duke on the British series Downton Abbey, angering viewers.

The Guardian reports:

Greek people took to social networking sites including Twitter to complain about the NET channel's decision to axe a scene from episode one of the series showing a kiss between a visiting duke and Downton's unscrupulous footman Thomas. NET defended its move, citing parental guidance viewing rules.

"As incredible as it may seem for a democratic country in the 21st century, officials of the NET television channel censored the scene of a kiss between men from the TV drama Downton Abbey," the Syriza party said in a statement.

"This is of course an obvious case of censorship, an extreme act of homophobia and discrimination which unfortunately, after what has been happening recently, we cannot characterise as unprecedented."

The Syriza politician Dimitris Papadimoulis questioned in a tweet whether the omission was due to pressure from the far-right Golden (GD) Dawn party or religious authorities...