This is just a quick update and it may have already been discussed. In case you missed it, there has been a huge controversy over an anti-LGBT calendar sold by both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Chrislove wrote about it here, and other LGBT blogs called attention to it as well. It features a "funny" picture of a male wearing make-up and appearing generally feminine (it's clever, you see) and it's titled "I'm not gay, I'm just a sissy." It mocks World AIDS Day by saying that "We All Have AIDS."
There is no first amendment right to have your product distributed and sold by anyone. You can create whatever you want and distribute it yourself or through someone who's willing to distribute it for you, of course, but that's as far as it goes. In this case, Barnes & Noble has decided they don't want to distribute the homophobic and serophobic calendar:
Barnes & Noble yanked the calendar from its website, and a spokesperson for the company told the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation it was never made available in stores. Amazon continues to stock the item, according to the Huffington Post.
I wonder when Amazon will follow along. As of now it's still available on their site, though it has received negative ratings from nearly everyone who's reviewed it.
Oh, and here is how the comic genius responded to criticism of his calendar:
Hoo-we! Hell hath no fury like a he/she scorned... The telephone tree of tantrums is lit up like a Las Vegas marquee for "Boy-Lesque" today with hate mail, threats of boycott and even the risk of Jesus spitting on me for my "Sissy" calendar. I SAID I WAS A SISSY UP FRONT. Ironic who the real bullies are isn't it? Let's see if I get a call from Oprah's people or even Anderson Cooper...
And here:
The "truth" is that AIDS is an "elective" disease.
It STOPS the day guys quit sticking it to each other.
And for the tragedy of women and children infected...
THAT stops the day their gay husbands and fathers stop cheating on them.
Anyone need MORE education, science or funding to understand THAT?
I'm not sure why Amazon wouldn't go ahead and let this guy distribute this stuff on his own.
Feel free to contact them:
Amazon
E-Mail: Click here.
Phone: 1-800-201-7575
Twitter: @Amazon
Facebook: Click here.