OK, this is just spectacularly stupid. To observe Pride Month, Amazon held a pride flag-raising ceremony at its Seattle headquarters, but about 30 employees staged a “die-in,” draping their corpses with transgender flags to protest the online retailer’s continued sale of transphobic books, like Abigail Shrier’s “Irreversible Damage.”
I’m at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters, where about 30 Amazon employees are staging a die-in during Amazon’s Pride Flag raising ceremony in protest of the company’s continued sale of what they say are transphobic books. pic.twitter.com/Pz0Pyy0Mzi
— Katherine Long (@_katya_long) June 1, 2022
Check it out: There’s actually a company-sponsored group calling itself “Glamazon.”
The hosts of the flag-raising event, leaders of Amazon’s company-sponsored LGBTQA+ affinity group, Glamazon, several times attempted to quell the protest before announcing they would cancel the flag-raising ceremony. pic.twitter.com/v3CrfOUBMK
— Katherine Long (@_katya_long) June 1, 2022
Protesting Amazon's sale of transphobic content is "a risk that a lot of us are willing to take because we can't continue to work for this company and turn a morally blind eye to its policies," one longtime Amazon employee at the protest told me.https://t.co/RZhNIctbkY
— Katherine Long (@_katya_long) June 1, 2022
Wait. I thought our side was against banning books.
— I, Robert (@BlueCheese608) June 2, 2022
Book bans are so hot.
— NevilleTheCat (@FearTheFloof) June 2, 2022
Katherine Long writes:
Nearly 600 Amazon employees signed a petition earlier this year asking Amazon to stop selling the books “Irreversible Damage” and “Johnny The Walrus,” and to give workers more say over which books the company decides to stop selling. Employees say both books fall under Amazon’s 2021 ban on selling books framing transgender and other sexual identities as mental illnesses. Amazon’s decision to continue selling those books and others in the face of employee dissent has led some employees to resign.
“Irreversible Damage” author Abigail Shrier weighs in:
If you haven't yet read IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE, aren't you curious what all these Amazon employees are 'dying' to ban? https://t.co/JywkUI2OlS
— Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) June 2, 2022
These people are protesting reality and the truth, so it is all in vain.
— Peter Garrett (@TheUnrealPeterG) June 2, 2022
I read Irreversible Damage; its a good, honest, informative book. Its definitely NOT transphobic.
— Mygreen (@Mygreen1278) June 2, 2022
It was excellent. But heaven forbid someone open their mind to a conflicting idea.
— Katrina Jene (@Lokis_Librarian) June 2, 2022
Thanks for the reminder. I just ordered a copy from Amazon.
— SHKorn (@sh_korn) June 2, 2022
You know you've written something true when people stage a die-in to ban it
— ＣＬＡＲＫ ＴＥＮＮＩＳＯＮ (@clarkomatic9) June 2, 2022
The people who want it banned have obviously not read it, or else just skimmed it and found what they wanted to find to justify hating it. Great book! As a parent, thank you for asking questions.
— Michael Durso (@deeptruth4dw) June 2, 2022
They hate science
— WhyNot (@WhyNaught_) June 2, 2022
They really, really, really ought to quit if this is some a moral quagmire for them.
Related:
Abigail Shrier not pleased that Talia Lavin linked her to the Buffalo mass shooter in Rolling Stone https://t.co/2WtQ3l7WoP
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 19, 2022