US: Apple currently removing offensive definition of ‘gay’ from dictionary service
Following outcry after a student discovered an offensive definition of the word “gay” in Apple’s MacBook dictionary, the company now appears to be rolling out new versions of the service in an attempt to rectify the issue.
She followed this up by launching a campaign to lobby the company into changing or removing the offensive definition.
Business Insider now reports that it appears Apple is currently updating the dictionary service across the various MacBook platforms it appears on.
On the MacBook Pro, the word is currently unavailable. If the user enters the search term “gay” they are asked if they were searching for the word “ay” instead.
The Daily Dot, however, has reported that both previous non-offensive definitions of the term still exist in different MacBook versions, signalling that Apple is underway in rolling out incremental updates.
“Even with your addition of the word informal, this definition normalizes the terrible derogatory twist that many people put on the word ‘gay.’”
To her surprise, an Apple representative called her only an hour after she sent the email.
“They told me it’s so hard to track the dictionaries they’re getting sources from, and that they were also shocked themselves,” she said.
