Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN 1.83%
said it had recently removed a three-year-old book on transgender issues from its platforms because it decided not to sell books that consider transgender and other sexual identities as mental illness.
The company explained its decision in a letter to Republican Sens on Thursday. Marco Rubio from Florida, Mike Lee from Utah, Mike Braun from Indiana and Josh Hawley from Missouri, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Senators had written a letter to Chief Executive Jeff Bezos last month asking for an explanation as to why “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment” was no longer available on Amazon AMZN 1.83%
nor on its Kindle and Audible platforms.
“As for your specific question about When Harry Became Sally, we have chosen not to sell books in which LGBTQ + identity is considered a mental illness,” Amazon said in the letter, which was signed by Brian Huseman, the vice president. from Amazon for public policy. on sexual identities that include, among others, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
“When Harry Became Sally”, written by conservative scholar Ryan T. Anderson, was published in February 2018. The book focuses on a variety of issues, including gender identity.
“Everyone agrees that gender dysphoria is a serious condition that causes a lot of distress,” said Mr. Anderson and Roger Kimball, the publisher of Encounter Books, the New York-based nonprofit that published the book, in a statement Thursday in response to Amazon’s letter. .
“However, there is a debate Amazon wants to stop on how best to treat patients with gender dysphoria,” they added, calling their book “an important contribution” to that conversation. “Amazon is using its immense power to disrupt the ideas market, deceiving its own customers,” they said.
Amazon’s decision comes as the country’s largest technology platforms are increasingly scrutinized with regard to the decisions they make about what content is acceptable. The senators characterized Amazon’s decision to remove the book in their Feb. 24 letter as a signal “to conservative Americans that their views are not welcome on his platforms.”
The four senators were not available for comment at the end of Thursday afternoon.
The senators in their letter had also asked Mr. Bezos if Amazon had changed its content guidelines since 2018. In Thursday’s response, the company said it had indeed changed its guidelines since that year, without providing further details.
Amazon said it gives its customers “access to a variety of viewpoints, including books that some customers may find objectionable.”
“That said, we reserve the right not to sell certain content,” wrote Mr. Huseman from Amazon. “All retailers make decisions about which selection to offer, just like us.”
Amazon is the nation’s dominant bookstore, accounting for 53% of all books sold in the US and 80% of all ebooks, according to recent 30-day sales data from Codex Group LLC, a book audience research firm. Removing a title from the Amazon platform can have a significant impact on performance.
Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at [email protected]
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