One week after Amazon.com claimed a computer "glitch" caused the de-ranking of tens of thousands of books, LGBT authors were cautious about the future of the dominating online company and its book sales. The company claimed it did not target LGBT books specifically, but previous letters to authors and the disproportionate impact on LGBT titles of all kinds, including children's books, meant not many people believed that was the full story behind the problems.
Tech experts were not impressed with Amazon's excuse, either. Columnist Mary Hodder wrote on techcrunch.com: "If all this seems like a problem, and it should, it's because Amazon is using algorithms, which rely on their classification system, with various statistics like 'Sales Rank' to rank products in search results on the site. These algorithms and classifications have points of view. Their point of view, revealed this week, is that 'positive references to sexual orientation—gay' is 'adult' in nature. And that classifications will be used in the algorithms to sort out what is shown and what does or does not get to have 'sales rank,' which then orders items in search results. And we all know search result order can lead to big sales, or invisibility." She then pointed out that a general search for 'homosexuality' instead came up with A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality.
Hodder suggested that Amazon.com, "because of its position in the market and power over both authors and publishers, as well as users and the intellectual marketplace of idea, ought to be doing a complete and public review of their classification and algorithm assumptions. Publishers and authors should push for it, and so should users."
Gay author Christopher Rice, president of the Lambda Literary Foundation board of directors, released this statement: "Lambda Literary Foundation applauds the diligent work of writers, bloggers and activists in calling attention to this deeply distressing turn of events. I have seen my first novel stripped of its sale ranking by this apparent computer glitch so I join other writers who are baffled to the point of anger. I take great solace in the quick mobilization of our community in response to this apparent marginalization of LGBT books; the grassroots power of the Internet has been placed on glorious display for all to see. Over the next few days, we at Lambda Literary will be monitoring the situation very closely. Amazon is one of our nation's largest general book retailers. In their commitment to creating and sustaining technological advances in the publishing industry, they have laid claim to the future of book distribution. As such, they have a pressing responsibility to create an unfettered exchange of stories and ideas."
Amazon.com, Inc., which is based in Seattle, has an 80% ranking on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index for 2008 and 2009. The two gaps it has are: The company does not ban discrimination based on gender identity or expression, and it does not provide diversity training on gender identity, nor does it have supportive gender transition guidelines. It does do the following: prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation; provides diversity training covering sexual orientation; offers trans-inclusive insurance coverage for at least one type of benefit; offers partners health insurance; offers partners dental, vision, COBRA and dependent coverage benefits; offers at least three other "soft" benefits for partners; has employer-supported employee resources group or a firm-wide diversity council; "positively engages with the external community" ( HRC's wording ) ; and "exhibits responsible behavior toward the LGBT community; does not engage in action that would undermine LGBT equality; employers found engaging in such activities will have 15 points removed from their scores."
It remains to be seen if HRC will dock Amazon.com on its 2010 Corporate Equality Index for this latest "glitch" in their dealings with the LGBT community. Will Amazon.com's HRC "ranking" suffer because of the damage done to LGBT rankings on their own site?
