Amazon announced plans on Thursday to stop selling all books that regard transgender and other sexual identities as mental illness, a decision made after four Republican senators filed a complaint with CEO Jeff Bezos last month when the company released a single book on the subject from the virtual shelves. .
In his response to senators Thursday, Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president for public policy, said the company’s content guidelines are regularly updated, sometimes resulting in the removal of previously approved books.
The company had not intended to select one book, he explained. Rather, it will ban the entire category altogether.
“We reserve the right not to sell certain content,” Huseman wrote. “All retailers decide which selection they want to offer, just like us.
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. “
The book, “When Harry Became Sally: Reaction to the Transgender Moment,” had been available on Amazon for three years before being removed in February.
The sudden disappearance from Amazon’s store spawned Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Mike Lee (Utah), Mike Braun (Ind.) And Josh Hawley (Mo.) to accuse the e-commerce giant of political censorship “for the crime of violating groupthink.” “
The men also accused Amazon of having “a vague, undefined standard of ‘offensive content'” falsely invoked to justify the removal of a single book, noting that it had previously been allowed to be sold.
In response to that claim Thursday, Huseman noted that Amazon has clarified its content guidelines. The company now explicitly bans “books that view LGBTQ + identity as mental illness.”
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