Comments on: Amazon.com decides gay books are “adult”

By: Kraig

Kraig — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:37:08 +0000

Now that some time has passed, and we’ve had a chance to dispel rumors and get some perspective on the whole “AmazonFAIL” issue, it seems perfectly clear that Amazon has some books ready to “blacklist” as soon as they think they can get away with it.
Despite all the talk of a “glitch” and the discredited accounts of a hacker, the clearest evidence against Amazon is the letter they had ready to go out to authors that began, “In consideration of our entire customer base…”
That corporate response was not a glitch. That was a homophobic change in policy. Letters like that don’t just write themselves; they have to be approved by several tiers of executives and PR people and then, finally, they land in the hands of the customer support team.
This was a clear attempt to enforce gay invisibility through corporate policy. The Christians didn’t like seeing the plethora of gay titles that popped up when they did certain searches, so they complained, and Amazon very nearly threw us under a bus to placate them. They were willing to make gay-themed titles “non-books” for search and sales rankings purposes (but, it is worth noting, not ANTI-gay books, which never lost their ranking numbers). Only the very loud outcry by the gay community (and others) caused Amazon to sheepishly roll back their new homophobic policy and try to pretend it was all a tragic computerized misunderstanding.
This shameful incident makes it painfully clear, however, that Amazon has every gay book in their database – from romances, to YA novels, to kids’ books, to health and wellness books for LGBTQ folks, to porn – tagged with a scarlet letter “A” for adult, regardless of the book’s actual content. Never forget that, and think about that before you spend another dollar with them.

By: Devoln

Devoln — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:44:23 +0000

Hasn't anyone researched this for real? PC World has an article that broke about 14 hours after this 365gay story. is html usable in comments? It gets into who is responsible and the response that Amazon has put out about the incident. Try doing some homework.

By: Lor

Lor — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:47:54 +0000

This makes me so sad!
Because my younger brother identifies as gay and he’s only 15.
Gay fiction is something he reads and occassionally writes. Shouldn’t he be able to?

By: W.H. van Dijk

W.H. van Dijk — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:28:01 +0000

Dear GLBT community,

according to Amazon (are we down to explanation #3 or rather #4 by now?)it’s not just you who are being targeted by the new standards. Also books on Health, Sexual medicine, and such have been affected.

So after the “deference to customers” and the “glitch” we now have “an error that affected more than just GLBT themed books”. Did I miss anything in between? And what will be the next version of “we’re not really sorry”?

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:12:58 +0000

I find this really difficult to believe Amazon’s public relations pitch that it is a computer glitch.

The Gay & Lesbian community has spent a considerable amount of money with Amazon.

I will not spend one more dime until this is not only rectified but there is a major, major, major apology and a commitment to support Gay & Lesbian rights and issues by Amazon including adding protection for it’s own employees by including benefits to domestic partners in their benefits plans. Anything short of that will gain my support of boycotting Amazon forever and actively working to recruit others to boycott Amazon.

Sign into your Amazon Account and sent them an email, go under the Help menu. Be counted it is the only way!

By: David W

David W — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:47:58 +0000

Just to let everyone know there is a petition against what Amazon did. Robin Reardon, author of “Thinking Straight”, is asking her readers to sign it. You can find the Petition here http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/119673661

By: AR

AR — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:28:09 +0000

I keyed in Lesbian and this was the first listing:

Lesbian Sex: 101 Lovemaking Positions by Jude Schell (Hardcover – Aug 2008)
Buy new: $16.95 $13.2230 Used & new from $10.02

Gay got me this:

Strings Attached by Nick Nolan (Paperback – April 19, 2006)
Buy new: $12.9920 Used & new from $10.45

Homosexual:

Homosexual Desire (Series Q) by Guy Hocquenghem, Daniella Dangoor, and Jeffrey Weeks (Paperback – 1993)
Buy new: $19.9528 Used & new from $9.98

Transgender:

The Transgender Companion (Male to Female): The Complete Guide to Becoming the Woman you Want to Be by Jennifer Seeley (Paperback – Nov 7, 2007)
Buy new: $19.954 Used & new from $19.95

By: R & R

R & R — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:51:25 +0000

Amazon account CLOSED. There are too many other options available for books, cd’s, and dvd’s. I suspect Amazon has hired a bible banger to rearrange their marketing program. This gives me an opportunity to spend my money somewhere else!

By: Marianne F. Auriemma

Marianne F. Auriemma — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:50:01 +0000

As a member of the community, and a longtime Amazon customer, I will no longer purchase any items from Amazon unless, and until, this ridiculous, homophobic policy is reversed. Kindle this!

By: Ginelle

Ginelle — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:27:42 +0000

To restrict what we can or cannot read is blatant censorship, to say the very least! To specifically target Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgendered writings and titles is outright discrimination! I have, over many years read a lot of books, gay and straight, and I can tell you from my personal experience that, if they want to say that Gay writings are “adult and pornographic”, well then they should start reading and reviewing some of the straight novels and books that are out on the market. Talk about trashy stuff, a lot of it is even sold not only in your local grocery store but in designated book stores as well! So what is the solution? Contact Amazon.com, en masse, by e-mail, by letter, by telephone, let them know you are withdrawing further business with them until this issue is corrected. If we hold back, as a community, with our “Gay Money” they may want to reconsider this obviously hateful and discriminatory business decision. I know it would be hard on a lot of us in the community, because some of us, myself included, live in small towns and we don’t have ready access to the books we want available to us. In the meantime, you may want to access Amazon.ca – I did this morning – and they appear to have kept up the GLBT titles on their web page.