Gay-Rights Groups Urging a Boycott of Contributions to the Salvation Army

[c.d.]

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/01/9143097-gay-groups-boycott-salvation-army-red-kettle-drive

c.d.

[Heinrich]

This strikes me as an unfounded smear.

[Ally]

It's not an unfounded smear.

The Salvation Army has a documented history of funding anti-gay campaigns and has statements to that effect on their website. They have a firm anti-gay hiring practice and were leaders in the fight to not make gay hiring discrimination illegal. They are a conservative religious organization, is this really a shocking surprise?

They are called the Salvation ARMY people, you cannot be floored by the fact that they are militant and unyielding in their religious dogma.

[Heinrich]

They deny it. So, if they really are homophobic then they are diluting their message which would not be army-like.

[Errata]

In this I can only speak for my home town, but I believe that there is a real problem with the Salvation Army and the LGBT community. It does not appear to be institutionalized, however. We have a lot of Salvation Army facilities and Salvation Army funded charities here, and it's been an issue. LGBT people have had issues trying to stay in the shelters. They have a men's facility and a women and children's facility, and gay men have been turned away from the men's shelter because "there are no separate facilities for homosexuals, and their presence in the same shelter would make heterosexual men uncomfortable". And they justify this by pointing out that husbands cannot stay with their wives and children in the same facility.

On the other hand, there is an independent shelter about three buildings over that receives Salvation Army money to provide food and occasionally clothing to those who stay there, and they will take anyone. One SA food kitchen will not feed you unless you attend 5 am services, another feeds anyone. The SA secondhand store employs LGBT people, as do the kitchens. Evidently they try to avoid hiring LGBT bell ringers, and office workers.

It seems as though there is not a corporate ban, but the decision is left unchallenged in the hand of the director of any given facility. And as long as nobody violates the rules, they can keep doing it. Also if you look at the language of the SA denial in this article, it is very specific in stating that demeaning or abusing homosexuals is not okay in their corporation. It does not say anything at all about the simple refusal of service.

On the other hand, and this is a very bitter other hand, the Salvation Army is one of the few national organizations equipped to handle large amounts of donations and get the money where it is needed quickly. And it is the only presence in many of cities who need it most. There is a dire need for a non religious organization on the scale of SA, but it doesn't exist yet. So while a boycott of the bell ringers might send the message loud and clear, we have to find some other organization with similar facilities to give to, and they may not exist. I haven't decided yet, but intimately knowing the layout of homeless facilities in the area, I may just drop my money in a red bucket and feel terrible about it.

[Limehouse]

[QUOTE=Errata;200637] Evidently they try to avoid hiring LGBT bell ringers, and office workers.
QUOTE]

They possibly dislike Campanologists!

[Ally]

They deny it. So, if they really are homophobic then they are diluting their message which would not be army-like.

No one ever said that the militantly religious couldn't be militantly hypocritical as well especially where their coffers are concerned. They are well aware that those little red buckets are filled by people of all faiths and beliefs and they aren't stupid enough to deliberately antagonize a source of revenue, especially considering support for gay rights is growing in this country by a significant margin. Their actions and their attempts at legislature speak a lot louder than empty words meant to pacify during their main collection season.

[Roy Corduroy]

Reality Check

Not only do they do good work, but it's dangerous. This man was shot dead in front of his three children by robbers who took the collection money. Wheeling West Virginia paper Oct 30, 2010:


[/I]Click

I'm praying they all make it through this Christmas season okay.

Roy

[Ally]

Hi Roy, the rules prohibit people directly copying more than five sentences of a news article due to copyright violations. Just letting you know, you might want to edit if you can or report yourself for editing. The news orgs are coming down hard on copyright violations because of reposting sites.

As for it being dangerous to be a Salvation army worker, er..okay. So one guy in the history of bell ringing has been killed and suddenly it's a dangerous job? Many of the bell ringers are being paid to do this, and they are far less likely to be killed than your average convenience store clerk.

[The Grave Maurice]

I didn't know any of this. I've sent annual contributions to the Sally Ann for some time largely because I read somewhere that they deliver a higher percentage of their income to the end users than most other charities, and I know that they do a lot of good work in our community. Still, I might now have to re-think where I send my charitable donations.

[Ally]

Yeah I haven't given to the Salvation Army in ..well running up on decades now, because I don't give to religious organizations. I pretty much just assume that my money will be spent in ways I don't support.

The one I really get dirty looks for is St Judes, which usually comes up when I have some absolutely militant charity badgerer hassling me about contributing when they do one of their "Would you like to add a dollar, no, how about 50 cents, it's only 50 cents!". I finally stopped attempting to explain my objections when some guy would just not let it go and kept running the scale, "What if I just round your purchase up to the next dollar" and I finally just lost it and went, "Every time a little kid dies, I do a happy dance, why the hell would I want to save the little brats". The look on his face was so priceless, that's now my default to anyone who doesn't accept the first no, and it usually shuts them up. I realize that's wrong, but I get really tired of being hassled every time I want to just go buy some apples, or a tire gauge, or shampoo.

I have no problems giving to charity, I probably give more and more often than the average person but I give to charities of my choosing and don't appreciate stores attempting to force their charity selections on me.

[Robert]

These people are pests. I know I'm not the world's best dresser but five times this week they've stopped me in the High St and offered me a shelter.

[Errata]

The one I really get dirty looks for is St Judes, which usually comes up when I have some absolutely militant charity badgerer hassling me about contributing when they do one of their "Would you like to add a dollar, no, how about 50 cents, it's only 50 cents!".

St. Jude is not a religious based charity. It's called St. Jude because he is the patron saint of lost causes, and he was the Patron Saint of the guy who founded it, the actor Danny Thomas. But it isn't Catholic, and it isn't religious.

On the other hand, I don't give at stores either, because I don't consider it an afterthought. For those who do, fine. I also don't know the mechanism under which they turn over the funds. Yoplait had a thing where every pink lid you turned in, they gave $1 to breast cancer research, and they got millions back. They failed to mention that it topped out at $100,000 and since the recycled all the lids, they saved a boatload. After a lawsuit they do now put the limit on the carton in tee tiny letters.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Aye, well, if you're gay and you don't like it then just ignore it.

The Salvation Army does a lot of good work.

I like 'em, even if they are more conservative than I am.

[Fleetwood Mac]

These people are pests. I know I'm not the world's best dresser but five times this week they've stopped me in the High St and offered me a shelter.

Is this a form of mugging? Pushing one's ideas onto the unsuspecting public?

I like 'em.

Is this the right thread for an EU rant? I detest that lot. Power mad scam artists.