The Salvation Army says it opposes "demeaning or mistreating anyone for reason of his or her sexual orientation."
But then it says if you work for the Salvation Army and perform or participate in a same-sex marriage or union:
YOU'RE FIRED!
If you're gay, the Salvation Army doesn't blame you. They don't deny that you exist and feel that marginalizing you is not helpful. They have no clue why you're gay. That's complex. Even though "some Christian believers witness a reorientation to heterosexuality," they understand "this has not been the experience of all."
Since there's no scriptural support for marginalizing, demeaning, or mistreating you, if you're an officer in the Salvation Army your job is safe as long as you "uphold the New Testament standard of marriage as articulated by the Salvation Army." This means:
IF YOU HAVE SEX YOU'RE FIRED!
If you're a Salvation Army employee who hasn't witnessed a "reorientation to heterosexuality" yet and can't "embrace celibacy as a way of life," you are subject to disciplinary action but you aren't being marginalized, demeaned, or mistreated by an organization whose mission statement says they meet human needs without discrimination. No way.
If you think that love and being treated equally are human needs and denying your employees access to these things when you exist on funding from people who probably don't know exactly what you are hiding behind all those fake inclusive sounding words is wrong:
If you think that love and being treated equally are human needs and denying your employees access to these things when you exist on funding from people who probably don't know exactly what you are hiding behind all those fake inclusive sounding words is wrong:
The Salvation Army can't exist unless it gets donations. It came up with all these fake inclusive words because it knows that if word gets out they will discipline gay people for not being celibate, a whole lot less people are going to donate to them. The sooner they get the message that the majority of people in this country are not going to stand for these attitudes from somewhere they donate to the better. Evolve or become extinct.
It annoys me so much when so-called Christian groups fail miserably to "love thy neighbor," especially when acting as a charity. It's even worse when they try to cover up their bigotry. Do you know about any centralized place where we can check the LGBT/female/racial-friendliness of other charities? Charity Navigator is good for finding financial data, but it doesn't have any information on social policies.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I just found this site and I really like your writing. It's definitely a blog written by an activist that happens to be a kid rather than a blog written by a kid who happens to be an activist. Keep writing!
Thank you, Madison, for making me pause to think about how much MORE I could be doing to help than by quietly stuffing a bill into a red Salvation Army bucket....
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering about a local activist's alternative. Should I talk with the person ringing the bell about the organization's policy regarding LBGT? Should I find out who the person's supervisor is and talk with him or her? Should I find out whom the supervisor reports to and talk with him or her?
The bell ringers are often volunteers are minimum wage employees who would have little knowledge about The Salvation Army's inner workings, if at all. You would speak to the corps officer about it.
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