Jeff Bezos at the 2010 ENCORE AwardPhoto: Steve Jurvetson / Wikipedia
An anti-LGBTQ activist’s book “criticizing” trans people was once a top seller on Amazon charts that track sales of LGBTQ books. So Amazon stopped selling it.
The author argued that the megacorporation had “erased” his book by deciding not to offer it, and this caught the attention of four conservative United States senators. They wrote a letter to Amazon to complain, and then the company explained: they are no longer selling books that claim that being gay or transgender is a form of mental illness.
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The book in question is entitled When Harry became Sally: responding to the transgender moment, written and published by Ryan T. Anderson in 2018. The book claims that being transgender is a mental illness based on the narratives of “ex-transgender” people.
Anderson worked for the Heritage Foundation, an anti-LGBTQ group where he reportedly worked closely with then Vice President Mike Pence, who is now the organization’s newest recognized employee. Anderson is currently president of the Center for Public Policy and Religious Law Ethics.
Anderson also co-wrote What is marriage? Man and woman: a defense, advocating against same-sex marriages in 2012. He previously claimed that it is more difficult to admit being an evangelical Christian than to declare yourself an LGBTQ person.
According to Anderson, an article that verifies the facts of the book in the Washington Post was a “hit piece” and was “attacked twice” in New York Times opinion section. Even so, it continued to be sold until last month, explained Anderson in an editorial written for First things – a conservative website and newspaper by the religious group Institute of Religion and Public Life.
He states, “three years after publication, in the same week that the House of Representatives plans to enforce the Equality Act” – which he calls “a radical transgender bill amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964″ – ” Amazon erased my book by opposing the gender ideology of its cyber shelves. “
He said he was not notified and had to contact the company to find out that his book violated the rules of offensive content in the market. Anderson’s publisher, Encounter Books, later revealed that they were notified.
Anderson called this cancellation due to “a heretical hunter left” and demanded that his book continue to be sold, even if Amazon did not agree with that, because otherwise “they have a lot to explain about why they carry Adolf’s book. Hitler Mein Kampf. “
“Conservatives need to overcome the mistaken belief that private companies can do what they want. This is not true, ”he said. While warning readers to watch out for “Big Government” and “Big Tech,” he argues that Amazon should be forced to sell his book because “all freedoms have limits. The same is true of market freedoms. “
Republican senators started to defend his argument. Senators Mike Braun (R-IN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) wrote a letter directly to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, demanding “an explanation enough “from Bezos until March 9.
“By removing this book from its markets and services, Amazon has openly exercised its outsized market share to silence an important voice merely for the crime of violating awakened group thinking,” they said.
They also sought “answers, along with supporting documentation” about how far the decision not to sell a book was, “including communication with other technology companies and members of the Biden government”, demanded their letter, in an effort to ” clarify the intentions and extent of actions taken by Amazon to censor the speech. ”
Amazon Vice President of Public Policy Brian Huseman – not Bezos – responded to senators’ concerns on March 11, giving seven direct responses. In a letter published by Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Amazon for Weekly entertainment, Huseman said: “As for your specific question about When Harry became Sally, we chose not to sell books that frame LGBTQ + identity as a mental illness. “
“We revise our Book Content Guidelines and our approach to curing Amazon bookstores regularly, which can sometimes result in the removal of books that were previously available on our shelves,” specified Huseman. “When we decided not to sell a book anymore, we removed it from our store and sent an email to the author, publisher or sales partner, informing about the removal.”
“As booksellers, we offer our customers access to a variety of points of view, including books that some customers may find questionable. That said, we reserve the right not to sell certain content. All retailers make decisions about the selection they want to offer, just like us. “
A GLAAD spokesman said in a statement to the Weekly entertainment that Anderson’s book is “dangerous and harmful to trans children”. They asked readers to avoid “resources written by someone who made a living publishing harangues against the trans community.”
“Amazon’s decision to stop selling books that falsely match the two is a positive step towards ending the disinformation campaign against LGBTQ people, especially young trans people, designed only to cause harm,” they concluded.