The Web commerce giant has revealed to a group of Republican senators that it will no longer sell any books that frame LGBTQ + identity as a mental illness.
Amazon has revealed that its new corporate position is that it will no longer sell books on the e-commerce giant that frames LGBTQ + identity as a mental illness.
The news came in the form of a letter in response to four Republican senators (Marco Rubio of Florida, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Mike Braun of Indiana and Mike Lee of Utah) who demanded an explanation from the web company after it stopped selling the 2018 Ryan Anderson book, When Harry became Sally: responding to the transgender moment, a book that begins by stating: “In this book, I argue that Dr. McHugh got it right”, in reference to Dr. Paul McHugh’s theory that being transgender is a mental illness. The book was one of Amazon’s best-selling books on the subject before it was removed from the site.
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Brian Huseman, vice president of public policy at Amazon, sent a letter to senators explaining that, “[W]and we reserve the right not to sell certain content. All retailers make decisions about the selection they want to offer, just like us. As for your specific question about When Harry became Sally, we chose not to sell books that frame LGBTQ + identity as a mental illness. “
Senators also asked whether Amazon’s webhosting service would remove hosting from sites with similar views, and Huseman explained: “AWS provides technology and services to customers across the political spectrum and we respect our customers’ right to determine for themselves what content they will allow. We simply require our customers to abide by our terms of service, which are designed to avoid the incentive and incitement to violence that can harm people. AWS operates as a separate business from Amazon’s retail organizations and terms of service AWS and the customer sign-up process are separate and independent from the Amazon bookstore. “
Anderson and his publication released a statement expressing their indignation: “Everyone agrees that gender dysphoria is a serious condition that causes great suffering. There is a debate, however, that Amazon is trying to end, about the best way to treat patients suffering from gender dysphoria ”.
However, the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement in support of Amazon, stating that “books, or any media, that tells someone that their identity, their sense of identity, is a mental illness are indescribably harmful. Authors who perpetuate harmful falsehoods about LGBTQ people – who have been denied by medical professionals – do not have a guaranteed platform, and Amazon is correct in removing the material from its store. ”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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