Amazon Employees Stage ‘Die In’ To Protest Sale Of Books They Don’t Like

Amazon Employees Stage ‘Die In’ To Protest Sale Of Books They Don’t Like

Laurel Duggan on June 2, 2022

Amazon employees protested the sale of books they consider “anti-trans” by staging a “die-in” protest in front of the company’s Seattle headquarters, disrupting a corporate Pride Month event, The Washington Post reported.

Approximately 30 employees laid on the ground, pretended to be dead and draped the transgender flag over their bodies during Amazon’s annual raising of the pride flag, according to The Post. They represented No Hate at Amazon, a group that’s pressuring Amazon to remove books from their marketplace that they view as anti-transgender.

“As a company, we believe strongly in diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Amazon spokesman Brad Glasser said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “As a bookseller, we’ve chosen to offer a very broad range of viewpoints, including books that conflict with our company values and corporate positions. We believe that it’s possible to do both – to offer a broad range of viewpoints in our bookstore, and support diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

“We respect our employees’ right to express themselves without fear of retaliation, intimidation, or harassment,” he said.

I’m at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters, where about 30 Amazon employees are staging a die-in during Amazon’s Pride Flag raising ceremony in protest of the company’s continued sale of what they say are transphobic books. pic.twitter.com/Pz0Pyy0Mzi

— Katherine Long (@_katya_long) June 1, 2022

The group circulated a petition in July 2021 demanding that Amazon stop selling the books “Johnny the Walrus” and “Irreversible Damage,” which it called “anti-trans hate books.” Several employees quit their jobs when the company refused to meet their demands, according to The Washington Post.

“Irreversible Damage,” by Abigail Shrier, discusses the sudden surge in young women identifying as transgender and the radical medical interventions some of them undergo. “Johnny the Walrus,” a children’s book by conservative political commentator Matt Walsh, is a story about a boy who pretends to be a walrus which serves as an allegory about childhood transgenderism.

Amazon employees reportedly said “Johnny the Walrus” was inflicting trauma on transgender people in leaked videos of a company meeting shared by Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo in April. At one point the man leading the meeting removed his glasses to wipe tears from his eyes.

No Hate at Amazon did not immediately respond to TheDCNFs request for comment.