Amazon Called Out As 'Anti-Trans' During Pride Flag Ceremony

LGBTQ groups dislike Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, who has donated millions to support gay groups and same-sex marriage campaigning for well over a decade. So chances are, you'll never get on the 'Nice' list as common folk.

Just sayin'.

The rainbow-colored claws were out against Bezos yet again on Wednesday when an internal Amazon LGBTQ group ("No Hate at Amazon") called out the company as an opponent of trans rights and safety for permitting the sale of books deemed "hurtful" toward the transgender community.

Around 30 protestors organized a "die-in" on Wednesday during the Seattle HQ's raising of the Pride flag. The angry attendees lay on the ground during the ceremony, wrapped in trans flags to protest the alleged violence caused by permitting the "anti-trans" publications.

"Amazon does have standing policies against hate speech in its content and technically, they say we don't sell it," said an anonymous protestor via The Washington Post. "But we've obviously seen through a number of these books that that's not the case when it comes to transphobic material."

Amazon has been criticized for permitting books that have been deemed problematic by the trans community, including "Irreversible Damage" by Abigail Shrier and Matt Walsh's "Johnny the Walrus."

Eight-year Amazon senior software engineer, Lina Jodoin, quit her job as part of the outrage.

"As much as it's about the books being for sale, for me personally, this is also very much about the response that we've gotten from leadership as we've tried to escalate," said Jodoin.

She added, "I'm worried that bad actors outside of Amazon … will continue to escalate their harassment of our customers and employees, given that we've shown there aren't repercussions for harassing behavior when it comes to our marketplace."

Back in March, Amazon was dropped as a sponsor of the 2022 Seattle Pride Parade for allowing "anti-LGBTQ groups" to use charity from AmazonSmile, a mirrored service of the Amazon online vendor platform, with the angle that portions of the purchase are donated to non-profit organizations.

"Seattle Pride has decided to not partner with Amazon for the 2022 Seattle Pride Parade because of their financial donations to politicians who actively propose and support anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation, oppose pro-LGBTQIA+ and other human rights legislation, and for allowing anti-LGBTQIA+ organizations to raise funds from their AmazonSmile program," Seattle Pride's statement read.

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