Earlier this month, Amazon banned several books on “conversion therapy” that were targeted at autonomous adults with unwanted same-sex attraction. Now, several self-described “ex-gays” have criticized the online retailer outlet for having a glaring double-standard, considering that several pro-suicide books are still allowed to do business on their platform, according to LifeSiteNews.
“Amazon has removed the books of Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, the psychologist whom critics have dubbed ‘the father of conversion therapy,'” reported LifeSiteNews at the time of the ban. “In other words, for claiming that change is possible for those who experience unwanted same-sex attraction, Dr. Nicolosi’s books must be banned.”
Nicolosi was the co-founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. He died in 2017. Amazon reportedly pulled his books after one man, Rojo Alan of England, pushed them into doing so. The company did not initially ban the books, arguing that they did not violate their rules. Nevertheless, Alan persisted and began demanding people on social media bombard the books with bad reviews while researching ways in which the books violated Amazon’s rules on publishing.
Shortly thereafter, Voice of the Voiceless, an organization that represents former homosexuals, launched a petition demanding that Amazon lift the ban while denouncing the company for its glaring hypocrisy.
“Hey! Amazon and LGBTQ activists, it is disingenuous to use the suicide argument as a reason to remove the exLGBTQ Christian’s testimony and Christian discipleship books,” said the organization’s founder Daren Mehl. “That lie doesn’t work.”
Mehl added that if Amazon truly cared “about suicide and preventing books from contributing to suicides,” the company would have banned litanies of pro-suicide books from being sold on their platform years ago. Here are just a few examples:
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Mehl portrayed Amazon’s ban on the ex-gay therapy books as being tantamount to religious discrimination because it prevents Christian men and women with unwanted same-sex attraction from seeking out information that aligns with their religious beliefs. Again, these are fully autonomous adults, not children being shipped off to therapy camps.
“Many of us have read these and other books and have been helped and discipled in our faith,” Mehl said. “Don’t discriminate against our religious materials.”
“You are lying in justifying censorship of our messages by using the strawman of ‘conversion therapy,’ and then lie that change in sexual orientation isn’t possible,” continued Mehl. “Change is possible, Jesus does this work for anyone who calls him Lord and believes and confesses it.”
Jeremy Schwab, a former homosexual and founder of Joel 2:25, pointed out that Amazon also keeps several pro-satanist materials on its platform.
“Isn’t it great that Amazon took my audiobooks down from every platform so they don’t risk offending anyone?” said Schwab in a Facebook post. “Let’s see what highly-rated items they are selling right now. With Prime, if you order in the next 20 minutes, you can have this delivered to your front door tomorrow.’ What a deal!”
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