Amazon Censors Gay Books

Gay literature has a long history of censorship. Since the 1881 censorship of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, gay and lesbian content has been classified as obscene. As recently as 2001, the ACLU was asked to intervene when the Anaheim, California school board pulled The Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians of the shelves of its libraries.

It is in light of this history that I read about Amazon's recent removal of sales ranks from books considered to have adult content (Thank you Alex Leo for the tip). Included in that list (and potentially the target of that label) are a number of important LGBT works: Giovanni's Room, Brokeback Mountain, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Rubyfruit Jungle, the list goes on.

None of these books have obscene or explicit content. In fact, many of these are the first books I read as a young adult that depicted characters with whom I could identify. Many of them are highly regarded pieces of fiction and some, like Giovanni's Room have a long history of grappling with censorship.

Losing a sales rank is not the same as burning existing copies or removing them from Amazon's site altogether. But sales ranks, in the age of the computer, are important. Books that sell well (like Brokeback Mountain) get special placement because of their popularity. The Rank also has significance for publishers and book stores. Imagine it as something like the New York Times' Bestseller List. Then imagine if the New York Times refused to list any books with gay content.

There would be an outcry.

In this case, an outcry of sorts did happen. At least those tech savvy enough to notice the rank change started looking into the policy and eventually an AP reporter got Amazon to state that the removal of LGBT books was a "computer glitch."

I don't believe that the program was a glitch. And history tells me I am likely correct in my suspicions.

That said, what progress we have made that a few stories on the internet can make a giant like Amazon apologize and change because their actions offend notions of equality and decency that include LGBT Americans.

It's not a big court win or a successful vote, but this little battle against Amazon is a sign of significant advancement in the fight for LGBT rights.

Comments

[raker]

You say that none of the popular gay-themed books you name have obscene or explicit content. But that's obviously not Amazon's motivation. Virtually all popular fiction has obscene or explicit sexual content. Explicit gay content is as valid and acceptable as hetero. It looks like someone at Amazon is anti-gay. Is it Jeff Bezos? Or are there religiosos programming "glitches" into Amazon.com? And what's Oprah doing peddling old Kindle inventory for such a company?

[antaeus]

Just in case, can anyone give clear instructions on canceling an Amazon account? I just logged in and did not find any obvious directions in that regard.

[mergina]

Well if it is true, they have a little explaining to do.

[ramblingjohnny]

Amazon rely a lot on users input for reviews, tags and flag. It all about crowd sourcing so I wonder if a few wingnut might not have spent the weekend messing with review and flagging Gay and Lesbian book. They also might just have been hack.

[BlackJAC]

And what should we do to the physical bookstores that don't have a clearly delineated Gay & Lesbian section? Should we accept at face value their obvious and transparently homophobic lies that it's a niche market with insufficient titles in print to warrant a separate-but-equal portion of rack space rather than integration into General Fiction? It's not like they need all that space for New Releases and Bestsellers. Should we not summarily dismiss as forgeries the sales figures they produce to justify their gay-bashing attitudes? Perhaps we should circulate petitions to make it mandatory by law to purchase at least two gay-themed books whenever entering a bookstore, even if it isn't a preferred genre?

I find it's easier to not assume malice when stupidity is just as plausible an explanation.

[AdamX]

First, there is no such thing as a "gay book". Next, retail establishments should sell whatever THEY want to sell, without any input from YOU. That is called FREEDOM. Why not open a book store that carries what YOU would like to see? You are so concerned about "gay rights" (as if they are different from anyone's rights) and insist on interfering in the rights of others at the same time.

[antaeus]

It surprise me that Dobson would cheap out and hire middle schoolers to flog the anti-gay message. I guess everyone is cutting back.

[midknightryder13]

'Glitches" like this do not happen spontainously. This would require -- for it to be so specific -- that some one was in the section of the code that pertains to this. My question would be -- why would Amazon need to have anyone working one the code UNLESS there had been PREVIOUS problems with it? Otherwise, it looks like that were preparing some changes for this section. The whole point of computers for things like this is they can perform the SAME function countless time WITHOUT making a mistake -- or succumbing to fatigue.
A true glitch would have been a bit more random in what books it 'attacked'. I want a better explaination, too.

[DissedBeliever]

Just went online and canceled my account with them. For the last five years I've bought all my christmas and birthday gifts for my five nieces and nephews from Amazon, as well as pet supplies, books, personal care products, etc. It WAS a great place to find lots of things in one place. But I'm not supporting bigotry and will never buy from them again, absence a real explanation and apology. This is so retarded, HELLO it's 2009, not 1959.

[david43a]

And tomorrow I will fly to the moon on gossamer wings....

These is no way this was a glitch, with software anyway!

Bye, Bye amazon! Speaking only for myself, I do not patronize companies that have an anti gay
attitude.....and what is funny is that that means I have rediscovered the local vendors....

No to wallmart, yes to local business! (my neighbors) I have found, that without fail, that the local folks
welcome my business, no matter that I am gay.
And some are chrisitians and some are hindu's etc. etc.
I suspect that it helps the local economy also....

[LeaderofMen]

It's 6pm Eastern time and the 'glitch' has been fixed. My sales rankings and the search engine issue have been corrected.

[DaveinNorthridge]

Well, whatever it is, they haven't fixed it yet.

[rainbowblue]

For crying out loud, there are things to be angry about and there are things that are really glitches! Amazon is a HUGE internet site, it's going to have problems..­.espically with user interaction with the ranking system.


I really doubt a company that sells gay erotica is going to start censoring itself without a change in executives and a public statement of a policy change.

Does anyone not understand that these systems are always under attack and go through outages? This is part of the reason why cloud computing is a bit scary. Hotmail was shutdown a few days ago, Gmail goes through it's problems. Obiviously someone hacked Amazon, so leave them alone.

[elemrap]

I could be wrong, but there might be a difference between Hotmail shutting down and Hotmail shutting down only the mail boxes that contain the word "gay" in them.

If this was an innocent mistake, the explanation of which can be explained and verified, then okay. I would hope the people causing the uproar will be chagrined and things would go back to normal with apologies on all sides. Good publicity for them, good for the LGBTQ authors and good for the readers.

But if it was, in fact, Amazon putting into place a new system meant to segregate and remove content they find "objectionable" from the mainstream visitors to amazon.com? Then shame on them. We aren't talking about a few naughty erotic books. We're talking about autobiographies, classic literature, and self-help books.

[LeftRight]

The real question is WHY are they hiding the "obscene" books in the first place?????? Who gets to determine what is obscene??? And what are their criteria?

[M1]

Hats off to the computer savvy folks who caught this discrimination!!!

[ProudLiberalDemocrat]

I may not be gay, but I know many people who are.

I will no loger buy from Amazon.....just like I stopped buying the NYPost after it's recent broo-ha-ha.....


Exercise your economic rights!!!