I personally do not and will not donate to the Salvation Army for all the stated reasons of homophobia, championing hate legislation and proselytizing. However, the Salvation Army helped my mother's dirt poor family in the 40s/50s when they really needed it. She told me that as much as she hates their homophobic practices and policies, the organization saved her life and she feels she needs to give back so they can help others like her and her family. So she throws a dollar or two into the red bucket on the occasion.

Actually, if I remember correctly, Target doesn't allow Salvation Army outside their stores, but that could just be the one store that I have been to. Also, if you want to send Salvation Army a message you can print out bills that protest their discrimination here: http://www.salvationnavyusa.org.

I can appreciate the fact people feel the Salvation
Army is homophobic. The Salvation Army does more good to actually help people in need than does the HRC.

We will continue to give to the Salvation Army.

in New Zealand, during the campaign for homosexual law reform, the Salvation Army pulled out its big guns to send volunteers door to door nationally for a petition against law reform. That year, we had stickers printed ready for the annual door to door collection saying This house doesn't give money to organisations that disxcriminate against gays and lesbians. There was a strong rumour that they had such a drop in donations that year a Christian millionaire made a large donation to cover the gap.

I used to feel this way as well. Then I volunteered for a disaster cleanup (which turned into a job) Worked with SA and Red Cross, and found that SA was local, Red Cross had attitude. SA worried about the people, Red Cross worried about press. The more I worked with them, the more I appreciated Salvation Army. There was no preaching, no questioning gender or sexuality.
As I went further along in the process I realized that the womon doing the disaster recovery work was the development director of the agency. Her brother, a gay man with HIV, works there too....doing the whole red kettle campaign.
I support my local Salvation Army, not the national (of whom I really do not know a thing), but the people I know, who care without bias

I am and have been openly gay since I was a kid. I worked for the Salvation army and had no trouble. Here in St. Louis they are very courteous and they don't request anything for the services rendered. They don't make you get saved , they tell you God bless you and have an excellent day. I think these are circumstances unique to these particular venues of the Salvation Army and need to be CLARIFIED to be unique circumstances, as our Salvation Army in St. Louis, MO has no such policy.
In the mean time I think it's interesting how the gay community wants to stir up hate for any Christian institution they can throw a stone at. I a really sickened by the current state of our community. Why not look inside for reform?

Alright, so we have a biblically-based belief that is part of our church doctrine. But this shouldn't effect the clients who use our services. LGBT people have access to the full range of services that the Salvation Army provides. I know, "shouldn't effect" and "doesn't effect" are two entirely different things. I am quite sure that there are some die hard dyed-in-the-wool Salvationists that will go out of their way to make things difficult for the gays (or the Muslims, Jews, blacks, etc). Sadly, the Salvation Army is made up of human beings, and humans have a tough time making it over some of their prejudices. Don't paint the entire Salvation Army with the same brush over the actions of a few misguided humans.

This particular human being thinks a little differently then blindly following doctrines. If someone asks what works for me, I will tell them, but I don't normally making a point of proselytizing. In fact I try my best to avoid it.

Love is love. If you are in love, and that love fulfils you, then that is all that matters. It doesn't matter if you are gay, straight, bi, transgendered, or whatever. Your love is the love that works for you.

Religion is religion. If you have religion or faith, and it fulfils you, then that is all that matters. It doesn't matter if you are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, or whatever. Your religion is the religion that works for you.

What matters the most is living the life that you believe in. Finding fulfilment in the things that you do, and the people that you call your friends. I am blessed to have friends from many different religions, and of varying sexual orientations.

That all being said, what the Salvation Army believes mostly works for me. It might not work for you. It's your choice. More important that what the Salvation Army believes is what it does. That's what really attracts me to it. The Salvation Army walks its talk. I walk the talk. Heart to God, Hand to Man.

The Salvation Army is the largest non-governmental direct provider of social services in North America. In Canada (where I live) the Army serves in 400 communities across the country. The Salvation Army provides services in the following categories:

• Emergency Disaster Services


• Community and Family Services


• Family Tracing Services


• Camps


• Street Youth Services


• Homeless Services (one quarter of all shelter beds in Canada)


• Addictions Services


• Safe Houses


• Palliative Care


• Services for the Mentally and Physically Challenged


• Corrections and Justice


• Young Parent Resource Centres

Salvation Army services are provided by corps on the local level. A Salvation Army Corps or Church in your community serves that community. If you have questions about your local Corps, then drop in and speak to the officers there about what that Corps does for the community.

I personally serve as a volunteer in my church in the audio/video ministry. I serve as a volunteer in my community with our church's Emergency Disaster Services unit as a Rapid Response Unit team leader and incident commander.

We are not perfect, far from it, but we are out there trying to "Do the most Good." 100% of the money collected in our Christmas Kettle campaign goes back out into the community (some kettle workers are paid, their pay comes out of kettle donations)where it is collected. It is not used to fund churches or operation of Salvation Army offices. It is used to provide services to your community.

Not giving to a kettle doesn't impact the Salvation Army as a church, but it does impact what we are able to do for your community. It affects being able to send kids to camp, or shelters for the homeless, or services for the elderly. . .

If you have some change, drop it in the kettle! It will help. It will especially help this year, as donations are down in many places due to the economy.

However, if you are bound and determined to not support the Salvation Army, I still have a challenge for you:

Do something!

Give your money or volunteer your time to any group that is working to do good works in your community. Walk your own talk, and encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Merry Christmas!

My conscience does not allow me to donate money to any large pro-homophobia advocacy group which promotes the anti-gay agenda. For this reason, I've not given a cent to the Salvation Army for about 10 years and will never give a cent as long as they try to redefine morality by making immoral homophobia into "love."

I'm more inclined to donate money and goods to more secular relief organizations as well.

I am all too familiar with homeless gay youth abandoned by their families. No home for the holidays, and having to listen to the same ideology through charitable orgs and shelters, that lost them their families in the first place, is salt to a wound, in my opinion.

And I don't have to agree that gay people need to be hostile to religious organizations, but I certainly understand the reason why.
People of faith can go on their merry way, without considering the devastation to gay lives they initiate and maintain in perpetuity.
And at the same time, people of faith will deny they have any influence or coercive motivation on that devastation.

THAT is especially what I can't abide and personally don't care to give more strength to.
That's why some of my charitable dollars and volunteer time goes to charities that directly help the LGBT.

Very recently, the Los Angeles Police Dept. has taken not allowing the Explorers program to continue within the agency. The Explorers is program for the Boy Scouts to initiate careers in law enforcement.
The LAPD actively recruits gays and lesbians (and atheists for that matter), and cannot continue recruiting the Scouts as long as there is an active discriminatory policy within the BSA against gay scouts.

The anti gay continue to blame the gay community as being destructive to the integrity of the Scouts.
Again, when is the faith community going to own up to being destructive to the integrity of gay lives?

I support the LAPD in it's decision, as I would for any organization that either didn't accept such discrimination, or changed their policy to be inclusive.

In any case, I have my preferred charities, and I've been a proud member of Scouting For All for over ten years.
And the family that founded it, are devout Catholics.
So there ya go.

Which just goes to show, that people of faith could engage the good of far more folks into their ranks if some of them weren't so busy investing more in discrimination, than in simply assuming the potential for alliance in gay AND straight folks working together.

Many members of the LGBT community are either unemployed or homeless or both. In most areas, the only place these individuals can get a free meal, warm clothes or a place to sleep is the Salvation Army or similar organizations. Some
of these are said to be "faith based" or "anti-Gay". In addition, in our own area the main organization which serves abused women and their children is "faith based" and uses the term "blessed" throughout their literature and their website.

To my knowledge, there are few if any LGTB organizations which provide free meals, clothes, or a place to sleep.

Where are all our great LBGT organizations in helping our homeless, our hungry, our unemployed, or our abused?

Down in the Southeast, I once had to lie for food and shelter...and I'll probably have to do it again at some point. In Orlando, if you're not Christian, heteronormative, gendernormative, passing as female or legally married to someone who is- too bad if you're homeless. You're f*cked.

I lied to the Rescue Mission, to my ex-gay therapist, all the while hating myself every Bible class they required. But, I had no choice- it was that or the streets downtown and I was still a bit too innocent for that, granted I was forced into that anyway when they found me on the phone with another girl and discovered we had a gay LDR. They kicked me out without even a warning.

So, here in the Midwest, where I live now, where services are wonderful. I act however the agency wants me to. If it's Salvation Army (and I stayed there a month when I first moved here), I'll lie as much as I need to. It's cold outside. If it's some Christian group who asks if you're saved before letting you take two bags of groceries and bread from their food bank, I'll lie. After all, I was once ex-gay. Isn't an entire lie really. I did pray that prayer in 2002 and if "once saved, always saved" applies even to kippah-wearing me, then it should be a nonissue.

It bothers me that I have to lie to get services. And that the longer I take testosterone and the less I pass as female, the lower chance I'll have of even surviving the street next time.

On the one hand, Salvation Army sheltered me when it was cold out, fed me, and even gave me Christmas presents and help for getting my first apartment. On the other hand, there's the truth. What they stand for. How they aren't the only group to pull this crap. It makes me sick.

Catholic Charities practices DADT which is something, I suppose. And thank Gd for the people at United Methodist open door Ministry who couldn't care one way or the other. It would be nice to stop introducing my partner as my room-mate though. But, when will that ever be safe to do here?