Amazon’s decision to remove a popular conservative book on transgender issues was made because the company has chosen not to sell books that frame sexual orientation or gender identities as mental illnesses.
The impetus for the company’s policy was revealed in an exchange of correspondence between Amazon and Republican senators asking why When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment was no longer available on Amazon nor on its Kindle and Audible platforms.
AMAZON REMOVES BESTSELLING CONSERVATIVE BOOK ABOUT TRANSGENDER ISSUES WITHOUT EXPLANATION
Amazon responded to Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana, and Josh Hawley of Missouri’s letter on Thursday, and in it, Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, said the company has “chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The 2018 Amazon bestseller was written by Dr. Ryan T. Anderson, who previously told the Washington Examiner that he only found out the book was no longer available on the platform when someone who wanted to buy it informed him it was missing.
In Huseman’s letter to the senators, he noted the company “reserve[s] the right not to sell certain content,” but added that this is not a part of a broader campaign against conservative ideas. Amazon’s policy has changed since 2018, he said.
“Amazon is using its massive power to distort the marketplace of ideas and is deceiving its own customers in the process,” said Anderson and Roger Kimball, the publisher of Encounter Books, the New York-based nonprofit organization that published the book, in a statement regarding Amazon’s letter. The pair also called the book “an important contribution” to the conversation of gender identity.
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“Everyone agrees that gender dysphoria is a serious condition that causes great suffering,” they added. “There is a debate, however, which Amazon is seeking to shut down, about how best to treat patients who experience gender dysphoria.”
The issue of transgender rights is increasingly getting more attention in the early stages of 2021 as more than 20 states have proposed legislation that would require transgender athletes play sports with those who match their biological sex and not those who match their gender identity.
Conservatives argue that allowing transgender women to play against biological women would present them with an unfair advantage that would disadvantage biological women, while Democrats argue that such a policy would isolate and discriminate against people who are trying to embrace their gender identity.
