We will be ignoring the little ringing\nbells of the Salvation Army this year. In the past, we\u2019ve given\nthem money. They were even founded by a Booth: William Booth in 1865.\nNonetheless, their homophobic agenda puts them off of our Christmas\nlist. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the beginning, the Salvation Army\nhas been a very conservative Christian organization. For years, we\nhave heard stories of their discriminating against gays and not\nproviding charitable services to them, even kicking gay kids out of\nshelters. They helped support the anti-gay Proposition 22 in\nCalifornia banning gay marriage. We stopped giving many years ago\nwhen we first learned about how underhanded they could be. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the Bush Administration,\nSalvation Army officials secretly met with Karl Rove, Bush\u2019s senior\nadvisor, to negotiate a special deal. In return for spending nearly a\nmillion dollars helping Bush promote his faith based charity\ninitiative, they wanted the right to discriminate against gays in\nhiring. Admittedly, there is no Federal hiring protection for gays,\nnor is there local protection in most places. What the Salvation Army\nofficials wanted was the right to discriminate in hiring even in\nthose places that had enacted local laws to prohibit discrimination\non the basis of sexual orientation. They wanted to be able to\ndiscriminate using government money, something that had yet to be\ntested in the courts and one of the big problem’s with Bush’s plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House initially denied the\nreports until documents were discovered and the story broke in the\nWashington Post. To our knowledge, they have yet to turn over minutes\nof those meetings as requested by a member of Congress, but secrecy\n(such as with the meetings on the energy bill) was a way of life with\nthe Bush administration, who are fearful of many aspects of their\ngovernance becoming public knowledge. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That same year, the Western region of\nthe Salvation Army decided to offer domestic partner benefits. This\nwas under pressure from more liberal Western cities like San\nFrancisco that penalize companies that do not offer domestic partner\nbenefits. Offering those benefits to workers are a part of the city\ncontracts and a requirement of doing business with them. Officials at\nthe time called it a “a decision made on the basis of moral and\nethical reasoning.” Apparently, moral and ethical (not to\nmention financial) reasoning goes out the window once the rabid\nhate-filled anti-gay fanatics start putting pressure on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Salvation Army’s National Commissioner\nLawrence R. Moretz stripped the regional board of its right to make\nsuch a decision. \u201cIn rescinding the policy and establishing a\nnational policy on health care benefit access to spouses and\ndependent children only, we must stand united in the battle that will\nundoubtedly follow from those who would now challenge our biblical\nand traditional position,” stated Moretz. \u201cWe will not sign\nany government contract or any other funding contracts that contain\ndomestic partner benefit requirements.” \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot has changed for the LBGTQ\ncommunity since the Bush administration. Not a whole lot has changed\nfor the Salvation Army. In 2013 they were still referring people to\nnotorious \u201cex-gay\u201d groups claiming that they could be cured. In\n2014 as the Obama administration led on major changes that gave gay\npeople more rights, the Salvation Army pretended to soften their\nstance. We know they were pretending as a leaked document surfaced.\nThey did not like their growing reputation of being discriminatory\nand hateful, despite that being exactly what they were. While they\nwere publicly proclaiming being more tolerant, the memo by their\nmidwest Commisioner Paul Seiler outlined the various ways that they\nwould continue to discriminate, both in hiring and in helping. It\nalso made clear that they completely rejected the newly won right to\nsame-sex marriage. They also rejected housing for people who were\nhomeless and transgendered. Their Christian charity stopped at\nheterosexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have long been very conservative\nand extreme. In 2010, they threw Harry Potter and Twilight themed\nbooks and toys into the trash during their toy drive. They have\ncrusaded against pornography and masturbation and BDSM. Sure, much of\nthe Christian community shares these views, but they are not on\nstreet corners asking me for money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here we are in 2019 and they still\ndon’t want to be called an anti-gay homophobic organization, but they\nstill want to be an anti-gay homophobic organization. It is true that\nthey are not ringing bells and shouting \u201cdeath to gays,\u201d but they\nare still very anti-gay. When Chick-Fil-A announced that they would\nno longer be contributing to organizations that were openly hostile\nto gay people, The Salvation Army was one of the ones they would no\nlonger give to. Color me shocked. Despite the Salvation Army website\nthat softens their language quite a bit, even Chick-Fil-A has their\nnumber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of their website, they no\nlonger have the information on their beliefs, that used to include\nstrongly anti-gay and anti-porn messages. They have an entire section\nnow on how they served the LGBT community. It looks like they have\ntotally changed, offering services to LGBTQ people instead of kicking\nthem out on the streets as they have done in the past. This is their\npublic face, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth is harder to figure out. They\ndo seem to be helping the LGBTQ community. But they have lied in the\npast. They are lying still. There has been a huge push this year to\nrebrand themselves as not being anti-gay. The problem is, as any good\nChristian knows, that forgiveness does not come without atonement.\nInstead of saying that they were wrong in the past, they claim that\ncriticisms of them were based on hate and misinformation. No, they\nwere based on the fact that the Salvation Army did lie, did hate gay\npeople, and did discriminate. You can’t white wash that away with\nclaims of prejudice against Christianity. They need to drop the\nbullshit line that it just took them a long time to figure out how to\nserved the LGBTQ community. The truth is that it took them a long\ntime to figure out how to not discriminate and say hateful things\nabout the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite all their efforts to improve\ntheir image and do better, they still have not convinced the LGBTQ\ncommunity, the LGBTQ media, and even Chick-Fil-A that they are not\nanti-gay. Neither is The Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, provost of St\nMary\u2019s Cathedral in Glasgow. He wrote an article this month saying\nthat they were lying about their new commitment to non-discrimination\nwith the LGBTQ community. They need to do more, and they need to\napologize for past transgressions, and they need to stop singling out\ngay people as sinners. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe that will happen. By next\nChristmas, they may have reformed enough that I will give to them\nagain, as they do a lot of good. I simply do not give to\norganizations that spread hate. This year, though, I am not\nconvinced. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, not this year Salvation Army. Maybe\nnext year, and that is a big maybe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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