As a person with a brain, the fact that Amazon.com is stripping sales rankings (and thus killing publicity) from gay and lesbian literature is offensive. As a writer, it is insulting. As a writer who is in the process of publishing a book about gay men, it's annoying on a business level.

http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11369.html

Amazon sez:

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.
Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

Sales rankings on erotica have also been pulled. Apparently "adult" material doesn't include non-erotica romance and literature aimed at heterosexuals, however, as their rankings have not been stripped. Way to be, Amazon.

This hits every anger nerve I have, including the one where I AM NOT YOUR BABYSITTER and it is not my responsibility to protect YOUR CHILD or YOUR DELICATE SENSIBILITIES from the internet.

Apparently some books may not be showing up if you search for them in Amazon's search (I can't confirm this, as I managed to find The Filly just fine). There is a list of the books with their ranks pulled here. They include not just new literature but classics like The Rubyfruit Jungle.

I strongly suggest that if you read slash online, support equality in the arts, dislike censorship, or, you know, think gay people are people, you follow this link to Amazon's support page (you will need to log in):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html?ie=UTF8&type=email

and notify them that you will not be giving them your business, as they are engaging in discriminatory practices. There is an excellent letter here. This is the one I sent:

In consideration of the rights of the LGBT community, I will no longer be supporting your business. You have targeted gay and lesbian literature in stripping sales rankings from books you have deemed "adult". Since heterosexual literature of the same type has not had its sales rankings tampered with, you are engaging in discrimination.

If you do not understand why you are receiving this letter, please consult http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11369.html. If you wish to retain my business, reverse this decision.

ETA: There is a petition here as well.

ETA II: Please feel free to reproduce this, link to it, or link to any of the URLs posted, on your own journal.

SON OF ETA II: Thanks ecaterin for this news: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is running a Google Bomb. They say:

I’ve created a page with the definition for “amazon rank.” LINK TO http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/amazonrank with “Amazon Rank” as the anchor text. The link should look like this:

Amazon Rank

ETA III, THE EDITING: strange_selkie reminds us that Amazon's CTO has a twitter: @werner . I don't know what to do with that info because I don't tweet, but all you twitheads surely will :)

ETA IV, HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU: bare_bear informs me that The LA Times is bloggin' about it.