In a Letter Gop Amazon Lgbtq Trachtenberg Wall Says It Removed a Book Because of Its Policy Not to Sell Books That Frame Lgbtq+ Identity as a Mental Illness

Letter Gop Amazon Lgbtq Trachtenberg: In a letter to GOP Senators, Amazon says it removed a book because of its policy not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness. But what are we really talking about here? And what does this mean for a free society?

In response to a letter from eight GOP Senators, Amazon defended its decision to remove links to books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness from their site. The company stated that it doesn’t sell books or products that promote or glorify hatred and violence. We believe these books promote hatred and violence against children and should not be sold on Amazon.

To be clear, Amazon is a private corporation and they have every right to refuse service to anyone they so choose. It’s their business. And we have freedom of speech in this country, which means you can say what you want — including the right to declare our LGBT+ friends mentally ill — and that includes the right to publish that declaration in book form and make it available for sale on Amazon.com. But here comes the sticky wicket: How is any of this really different from the “lost voices” argument raised by opponents of same sex marriage?

As you may remember, one of the arguments made against same sex marriage was that same sex marriage would somehow be harmful to children and that we don’t want to raise a generation of children in a world where both mommy and daddy are married to other people. As much as I express my distaste for those arguments, I have to admit that the concept of lost children who are raised without a mommy or daddy is pretty compelling. Of course kids will have problems if they don’t have their mommy there to hug them and read them stories — and it doesn’t help that the messages about same sex parenting are being pushed by homophobic groups like Focus on the Family.

The argument that same sex parenting harms children is exactly what the people at Family Watch International, a right wing Christian group, have said about LGBTQ kids. In a recent video that went viral, Focus on the Family staff member Peter Sprigg openly declared himself against gay and lesbian parents with kids. He went so far as to say that he’s too embarrassed to even read any material written by a gay or lesbian person who has a kid. According to Sprigg a gay or lesbian person with a child is not “a good example for other homosexuals.”

I would say that this is exactly what the folks at Family Watch International were trying to achieve when they were lobbying Amazon to remove the books. It highlights the danger of using children as an excuse to deny service to people you don’t agree with. Once opened, Pandora’s box can lead us down some pretty terrifying paths.

If you want to see which books are being targeted, you can check this list. Or you can simply search Amazon by the word “homosexual.” You’ll notice many of the titles listed focus on “coming out of homosexuality,” or gay deception, or the need to get past that “gay” mindset. Many of these titles are also available from religious publisher Thomas Nelson.