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LINK: http://www.sovo.com/2004/11-19/view/actionalert/army.cfm

Salvation scrooge
Annual Salvation Army red kettle campaign protested by PFLAG, dumped by Target

By VAN GOWER
Nov. 19, 2004

Bell-ringers and red kettles are a familiar site around retail centers each holiday season. But some activists hope to put a dent in the collections of the Salvation Army for what they say are the religious charity's anti-gay policies.

For the fourth consecutive year, the PFLAG chapter in Genesee County, Mich., will protest the Salvation Army red kettle program, hoping their supporters will drop enough dollar bill-sized protest notes in the kettles to make an impact in the fund-raising, which brought in $93 million last year.

This isn't a project the national office is sponsoring, but we're happy to direct people to chapters that are participating, says Ron Schlittler, interim executive director of PFLAG's national office in Washington, D.C.

The Salvation Army's red kettle campaign officially begins Thanksgiving Day, but local chapters may start earlier, according to the organization. In Atlanta, the effort kicked off Wednesday.

The Genesee County PFLAG chapter, which started the protest campaign in 2001, will again distribute the notes on its web site. The bills read, I would have donated ____ Dollar(s), BUT the Salvation Army decision to discriminate against gay and lesbian employees prevents my donation now and in the future. Other PFLAG chapters have joined the effort.

Schlittler says the grassroots nature of the campaign prevents PFLAG from tallying the amount of participants.

The Salvation Army says the protest has little, if any, impact, according to Maj. George Hood, national community relations and development secretary for Salvation Army.

I'm not even aware of any protests that took place last year, Hood says. Nobody reported any significant impact at all.

But the charity took a significant hit this week when gay-friendly retailer Target banned the Salvation Army from soliciting at its stores across the country, although store officials said they are only bringing the organization inline with its corporate policy banning soliciting at stores.

The discount chain granted an exception to the Salvation Army in the past, but decided to revoke it this year after receiving multiple requests from other non-profits that wanted to solicit funds at Target stores, according to company officials.

The Salvation Army offers health benefits to married heterosexual employees, their spouses, and children. Single employees are also covered, but no coverage is extended to domestic partners, regardless of sexual orientation, according to Hood.

Because the Salvation Army is a church and charitable organization, Hood says, it stands firm in its fundamental belief that homosexuality is not condoned in Biblical scripture.

We have no stance against the gay community whatsoever, Hood says. There is a misinterpretation about what we are doing or what we are not doing.

In 2001, the Salvation Army revoked an earlier decision to offer DP benefits in its West Coast division. Prior to reversing the decision, the nation's largest charity was inundated with complaints from outraged supporters who equated the policy with an endorsement of same-sex marriage.

That same year, the Washington Post leaked a 79-page internal memo from the Salvation Army that claimed President Bush made a firm commitment to honor the organization's request to be exempt under Bush's faith-based initiative from state and local laws banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

They're entitled to their position, but I think the issue becomes when it's a matter of employment or public service, Schlittler says. Then the question [arises] about discrimination in employment practices.

Since 2001, Soulforce, a national interfaith group that supports gays, took part in a similar protest-voucher campaign, but does not plan to take part this year, according to Laura Montgomery Rutt, Soulforce communications director