As the holidays approach, the Salvation Army bell ringers are out in front of stores dunning shoppers for donations. If you care about gay rights, you’ll skip their bucket in favor of a charity that doesn’t actively discriminate against the LGBT community. The Salvation Army has a history of active discrimination against gays and lesbians. While you might think you’re helping the hungry and homeless by Thumbnail image for Why you shouldn’t give to the Salvation Army dropping a few dollars in the bright red buckets, not everyone can share in the donations. Many LGBT people are rejected by the evangelical church charity because they’re “sexually impure.”
With the beginning of the holiday season, the familiar sight of Salvation Army bell ringers outside stores will soon be upon us. Over the years, many have tossed money into the collection pots (I certainly have)…but I wonder how many of us have given much thought to what the money is used for? More importantly, what is it that the Salvation Army stands for? With that in mind, there’s a good reason you might want to find a more worthy charity to donate to this Christmas.
The Salvation Army claims to hold “a positive view of human sexuality.” This assertion is true if by “positive” you mean “strictly heterosexual.” The organization’s official view is that “”sexual intimacy is understood as a gift of God to be enjoyed within the context of heterosexual marriage.” So, if you’re LGBT…well, too bad, so sad; you don’t to share God’s gift. Truth is, the Salvation Army doesn’t believe that LGBT individuals deserve to share the intimacy of any sort of non-normative sexual relationship. Though SA claims that “”the services of The Salvation Army are available to all who qualify, without regard to sexual orientation”…the truth is that SA LGBT folks to be “less than.”
SA has publicly articulated an anti-gay philosophy, and has a long history of promoting anti-gay policies, lobbying governments worldwide to make non-heterosexual sexual practices illegal.
Yes, Virginia; your donations are supporting those anti-LGBT lobbying activities.
As recently as 2012, the Salvation Army reiterated its anti-LGBT philosophy:
A relationship between same-sex individuals is a personal choice that people have the right to make. But from a church viewpoint, we see that going against the will of God.
SA has begun scrubbing its website of links to ministries providing “gay conversion therapy.” While they claim (thruthfully) to provide services to LGBT members of the homeless community, they have consistently refrained from addressing their anti-LGBT theology. Though they’ve devoted a good deal of effort to debunking their well-documented history of discrimination against LGBT individuals, the truth is that SA publicly speaks the language of equality while in reality discriminating against the LGBT community.
[C]ontinues to discriminate against its own employees and their partners. They also neglect to mention that the organization historically “abides” by anti-discrimination laws by way of shutting down services in areas where such laws apply. The Salvation Army has given no indication that it intends to change any of these anti-LGBT policies.
This Christmas, why not do something different and support organizations that don’t discriminate. Why not support those organizations and individuals whose work demonstrates a commitment to equality?
“Peace on Earth and goodwill towards men” doesn’t come with qualifiers.
