Amazon.com's new homophobic policy

[puckrobin]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/04/amazon-deranks-gayfriendly-books-the-twitterverse-notices.html

Heather Has Two Mommies - a book for children - has been deemed too adult and had its Sales Ranking removed. But the Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds is not an adult book and has a Sales Ranking.

Books like A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality by Joseph Nicolosi and Linda Ames Nicolosi have kept their sales ranking. Books like The Lesbian and Gay Parenting Handbook: Creating and Raising Our Families by April Martin have lost their sales ranking. Neither has Mein Kampf.

I can't even begin to describe how much this pisses me off. Not just as a writer. Not just as someone who has taken several library courses. Not just as someone who has gay friends and family members. It offends me as a human being.

If Amazon.com doesn't recant immediately, I will break away from the referral program on my website and sign with their competitors instead.

Allen

P.S.: Oh, John Barrowman's autobiography has also had its rank pulled.

P.P.S.: Amazon.com Spokespeople have claimed that this is a "glitch". Sure it is.

Comments

[vbjohnson.livejournal.com]

Fuckers. Pull it; there's nothing else large corporations understand but "your homophobia and intolerance has lost you my business."

And then fire a flaming arrow into their corporate behinds. (Icon is appropriate!)

[puckrobin.livejournal.com]

I was hoping Amazon would save me the trouble of altering every single link on my site and finding new rewards programs, but they are dragging their heels with this one. Hopefully I'll have a few moments soon to investigate alternatives to Amazon. Any suggestions? (And if my UK friends have suggestions, I'd appreciate them too.)

I see from a Google News search that there are over 300 articles on this. They have a PR nightmare on their hands - and deservedly so. The computer glitch excuse is so insulting.

Allen

[puckrobin.livejournal.com]

I see that Heather Has Two Mommies has had its Sales Rank restored. I expect most others will be restored too. Now I'm waiting for an explanation / apology / firing beyond "technical glitch".

Allen

[alysscarlet.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised they are dragging their heels as it is such bad publicity and is spreading like wildfire across the internet. I hope they sort out their 'glitch' soon.

I'm not sure if it's spread to Amazon.co.uk or .ca yet?

[puckrobin.livejournal.com]

My response from Amazon.com.

But wait --- I thought it was merely a technical glitch.

And they haven't explained why books that were anti-gay but discussed homosexuality was spared from this "embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging" error.

I think Amazon.com will find this mea culpa will not undo the damage to their reputation.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Amazon.com.

This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.

It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles - in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon's main product search.

Many books have now been fixed and we're in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.

Thanks for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.


Sincerely,

Customer Service Department
Amazon.com

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