A gaggle of House Republicans are lobbying their colleagues to bully Amazon into restocking two ex-gay conversion books it recently yanked from its online shelves.
The trouble began earlier this month when the retailer pulled all the titles written by the late Dr. Joseph Nicolosi (a.k.a. the “father of conversion therapy”) after determining they violated the its guidelines.
The move came after a Change.org petition gathered over 80,000 signatures calling on the site to stop selling Nicolosi’s books, “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality” and “Healing Homosexuality: Case Stories of Reparative Therapy,” which have been described by some as “ex-gay torture manuals.”
In response, Christian extremists accused Amazon of “political censorship” and “digital book-burning” and said they feared the site would soon come after their Bibles.
Related: Former leader of ex-gay conversion therapy group admits it’s harmful and doesn’t work
Now, the Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus of GOP House members, has rushed out a pamphlet urging members to “contact Amazon with concerns” about “Amazon censorship.”
“In recent days, Amazon has banned the sale of several books addressing unwanted same-sex attraction,” the handout, which was written by Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler, chairwoman of the group’s Values Action Task Force, reads. “Catholic psychologist, author and therapist Dr. Joseph Nicolosi (deceased) penned multiple books to assist men struggling with unwanted homosexual attractions, feelings and lifestyles.”
It continues: “These books were available on Amazon until an LGBT activist repeatedly petitioned Amazon to remove the ‘homophobic books’ from the company’s website. Amazon removed Dr. Nicolosi’s books and those of several other authors on similar topics. It is not clear that any of the banned books have violated an Amazon policy, but rather that the company is choosing to censor speech.”
18 states plus Puerto Rico and several U.S. cities have banned conversion therapy, and the practice has been long opposed by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Sky Gray, who let the Change.org petition, tells Vice he’s not surprised Republicans have decided to take this issue up.
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“It shouldn’t be surprising that the conservatives are in support of conversion therapy,” he says. “They’ve made it clear they are in the past.”
“It looks like this is going to be a bigger fight than previously anticipated, though I knew it would be an uphill battle. Looks like the hill just got a lot steeper, with this knowledge in mind.”
Related: Christian extremists fear for their Bibles after Amazon bans books on ex-gay therapy
Vince
It’s funny how they’re all always yapping about businesses having the right to discriminate against LGBT. The irony. Lol
aequalitasTN
It is rather funny how religious conservatives are always screaming about letting businesses do as they please, until they do something like refuse to sell a religious product, then, of course, it’s “censorship” and somehow restricting speech. The exceptionally misunderstood thing about the First Amendment is that is only restricts the government, not individuals or corporations. So, here’s a thought for the religious conservatives: can the hypocrisy and decide which it is, and quit intimating that these corporations or individuals are somehow violating the First Amendment.
GageRoberts1268
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Scorpjr
I’m wondering where the line on banning books will eventually be drawn… Also, I bet if Amazon won’t sell them, somebody else will. Extrapolating beyond the specifics of this story, how okay are you with a private corporation deciding what information you have access to?
aequalitasTN
I catch your point, but this is nothing new; businesses have always decided which products they are or are not going to sell, whatever the reason may be for such, just like every newspaper has always decided which stories to carry. This is completely counter-balanced, of course, by your initial point that some other business will likely carry the product and thus people will have access to it via that venue, if they truly want it.
Aires the Ram
If you recall, Amazon started as a bookstore out of a garage. If I owned a bookstore, I would sell what I thought would make me the most money, and bring in a wide variety of customers. I would not sell something I felt might be damaging to someone. BUT, having said that, I don’t believe in boycotts. Amazon can sell or not sell what it damn well pleases. If you want something they either don’t or won’t carry, you are free to buy it somewhere else. There’s a market for everything if there’s money to be made. I’m sure there are books available to purchase, of many offensive things, but the 1st Amendment means you have a right to sell and buy such things. I think people who sell anything in any kind of a shop can pick and choose what they sell and who they sell it to. This brings me to the whole pizza shop/flower shop cases we’ve had the last few years. I think BOTH sides are wrong. The pizza shop/flower shop owners are wrong to not take $$ from customers who walk in their shop to purchase something, that’s pretty stupid. But the idea of being “gay” and targeting the kind of shops who you know don’t like you, and walking in there with a rainbow flag flying out of your mouth, is just as wrong. Why look for trouble? If we didn’t learn it in school growing up, most of us sure did learn it when we got into the work-a-day world, and that is that certain people just ain’t gonna like ya. And we don’t like certain people if we’re honest about it. It is the way the world is, it is human nature.
inbama
I would so agree with you, but this “religious freedom” has already spread to doctors refusing to treat gay patients.
This was settled during the AIDS crisis. We should not go back.