Amazon removes controversial books by 'father of conversion therapy'
Amazon removes controversial books by 'father of conversion
therapy'
“A
Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality” is among the Joseph Nicolosi titles
removed from Amazon’s website.
Amazon has removed English-language books by a man
largely considered “the father of conversion therapy” from its site following
mounting pressure from LGBTQ activists.
Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, founder of the now-shuttered Thomas Aquinas
Psychological Clinic, as well as the National Association for Research and
Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), authored several how-to guides directed to
parents of LGBTQ youth, including “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing
Homosexuality.” His books are some of the most well-known works about
conversion therapy, the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change a
person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
“I would say many survivors of conversion therapy could trace
their trauma to Nicolosi,” Sam Brinton, head of advocacy and government affairs
at The Trevor Project and a survivor of conversion therapy, told NBC News. “His
work lent credibility under the guise of ‘science’ to conversion therapy, even
though the practice has been disputed and discredited as dangerous and harmful
by medical experts.”
Nicolosi died in 2017 from complications of the flu, but the
misconception that conversion therapy is a legitimate practice lives on.
According to The Trevor Project’s 2019 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth
Mental Health, 2 in 3 LGBTQ youths reported that someone tried to
convince them to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, and youths
who have undergone conversion therapy are more than twice as likely to attempt
suicide as those who did not.
Though activists have been urging Amazon to remove the books for
several months, as evinced by a Change.org
position that has amassed more than 82,000 signatures as of
Wednesday afternoon, one man in particular made it his mission to prevent the
company from selling the books.
Roger Alan first learned about Nicolosi’s books from Peterborough
International Christian Centre, a church in his native United Kingdom, around
three months ago. The church planned to show “Flying Blind,” a video about
conversion therapy, to its parishioners, and when met with widespread
criticism, it defended the screening by referring to Nicolosi’s work.
While the church ultimately canceled the event, the books
remained available for purchase on Wordery, an online bookseller, and Amazon.
“I’d been through something myself when I was younger,” Alan,
who is gay, said. “I had to talk to someone who told me ‘there’s no such thing
as being gay.’ It took me forever to understand my sexuality, and it was a
really difficult time for me.”
Alan said he reached out to both sites and called for the books’
removal. Wordery removed the books the next day, but Amazon informed him that
his request would be passed along to the “relevant team.”
After a month had passed with no action, Alan reached out the British
Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association — organizations
that have acknowledged the harm associated with conversion therapy — in an
attempt to gain medical and legal context to strengthen his request. The BPS
calls conversion therapy “unethical” and the APA says it has
"serious potential to harm young people because they present the view that
the sexual orientation of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth is a mental illness
or disorder, and they often frame the inability to change one's sexual
orientation as a personal and moral failure."
Alan also revealed that he reached out to strangers via Reddit,
Facebook and other social media, urging them to leave negative reviews of
Nicolosi’s books on Amazon. He spoke to approximately 15 people he didn’t know
on the phone about why he thought the books were dangerous — all the while
juggling his jobs as a home insurance agent and a bookseller.
“I kept speaking to other people at Amazon and they were
sympathetic, but all they could tell me was that they’d pass along the info,”
Alan said. “I wasn’t really getting anywhere.”
Then, three months after he submitted his first request,
something changed. While Alan was completing his daily ritual of searching for
Nicolosi’s books on Amazon on Tuesday, he realized the English-language
versions of the books were no longer available (some of the works can still be
found in Spanish
and Portuguese).
Amazon has not contacted Alan about its removal of the books,
but the company confirmed to NBC News that several titles by Nicolosi are no
longer available and that it reserves the right to not sell books that go
against its content
guidelines.
Last December, Amazon removed
a gay conversion therapy app from a religious group called Living
Hope Ministries, which included anti-gay podcasts, articles and devotionals.
“We were feeling quite hopeless,” Alan said. “These books were
outrightly lying to parents on how they could cure their children from being
gay or trans and essentially teach ways you can mentally and physically abuse
your child. But now that the books have been removed, we’re overjoyed.”Related
Brinton believes that while the removal of Nicolosi’s books
won’t stop conversion therapy, it will help the public better understand the
dangers of the practice.
“These books will still be accessible and will still be a risk
for youth,” Brinton, the co-founder
of 50 Bills 50 States, the largest campaign to protect LGBTQ youths
from conversion therapy in the U.S., said. “But you can compare removing them
to the surgeon general announcing smoking is dangerous: People now know the
side effects of the practice.”
“The best way to save lives is to pass legislation,” Brinton
added, noting that in the last 30 months, 13 laws have been passed protecting
minors against conversion therapy. Currently 18 states, along with the District
of Columbia, ban the practice on minors.
Comments
Post a Comment