In a time when gays and lesbians are making strides toward equal rights, Amazon.com has taken a step back. A step back to a time when you didn't ask and didn't tell, a time when you hid your love for fear of persecution, a time when even the suspicion of homosexuality was enough to get beaten or even killed. Amazon.com has reclassified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender books and movies as an adult product which blocks them from their sales rankings.
However, like
Mark Probst said, "if they are really going to try and exclude so-called “adult” material, then how come
this has an Amazon ranking?" And there are plenty of other *adult* themed books still ranked as well, as shown by
this list. Curiously, if you put "homosexuality" into a search of their site, and you'll find books on "preventing" and "curing" homosexuality, but you won't find
Brokeback Mountain or
Tipping the Velvet or other previously high ranking books or movies.
Today, Amazon.com claims this was just a glitch that they are fixing now, but
some authors lost their ranking way back in February, and only now is it getting any attention. And if it's just a glitch then why tell authors their books have been "classified as an Adult product" and "In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature." Obviously that's not just a glitch.
Like so many others are twittering, AmazonFAIL! Please sign
the petition.
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