Shortest Boycott Ever: Salvation Army Yanks "Ex-Gay" Groups From Website

Mere hours after Truth Wins Out called for boycotting the Salvation Army, the organization has removed the "ex-gay" groups listed on its website. From their letter to Truth Wins Out:

We sincerely appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention. As you know, The Salvation Army strives to live out our mission of meeting human need without discrimination. Our doors are always open to anyone who seeks our help, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. We simply do not discriminate against the people we serve or the people we hire. We have removed the page of referrals for sexual addiction centers. Truthfully this was an old page that had been archived but was reposted when we launched our new website last month. We apologize for our oversight and any confusion this may have caused. The Salvation Army does not consider homosexual orientation a sin. Please know that we serve anyone who comes to our doors without discrimination.

Bolding is mine. Way to go, Truth Wins Out. Now...we wait for the sadz.

Truth Wins Out: Boycott Salvation Army

Via press release:

Truth Wins Out called on people today to withhold holiday donations from The Salvation Army until the organization removes all anti-LGBT materials from its website, starting with two “ex-gay” ministries that are listed as sexual addiction resources. “Don’t drop change in The Salvation Army’s bucket until it changes its website into a platform that doesn’t refer clients to dangerous groups that attempt to pray away the gay,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Ex-gay organizations are harmful, ineffective, and rejected by every mainstream mental health association in the world.”

The existence of this resource was surprising, considering that The Salvation Army’s public relations arm has launched a new campaign that portrays the organization as pro-LGBT. On its website is a page that “debunks the myth of LGBT discrimination.” According to the website: “For years, Facebook posts, forwarded emails and rumors have been leading some people to believe that The Salvation Army does not serve members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. These accusations simply aren’t true.” [snip]

“While we appreciate The Salvation Army’s recent outreach to the LGBT community, we won’t settle for cheap spin, we insist on substance,” said TWO’s Wayne Besen. “If The Salvation Army is truly committed to non-discrimination, it will immediately eliminate these “ex-gay” groups as resources, and scrub its entire website of all anti-gay materials.”

Read much more here.

HomoQuotable - David Bromstad

"Dear fans, I've read your feedback on my participation with The Salvation Army USA, as an openly gay person whom just happens to also be a celebrity, I took the Salvation Army's request to participate in their fundraiser as one step in the right direction towards equality. If we simply separate ourselves from those that we assume appose us or our beliefs then we will never make strides in the right direction. I applaud the Salvation Army's symbolic handshake towards acceptance and would be foolish to not extend my hand in acceptance." - HGTV host David Bromstad, responding on his Facebook page. (Tipped by JMG reader Phil)

RELATED: Towleroad notes that a Salvation Army official last year declared that homosexuals should be put to death.  The Salvation Army later apologized for the "miscommunication."

CANADA: Salvation Army Executive Director Busted For $2M Toy Heist

The executive director for the Toronto Salvation Army has been arrested for stealing more than $2M in toys from the organization.

David Rennie, the Salvation Army executive fired in the midst of an investigation into donated goods that disappeared from a Toronto warehouse, has turned himself into police. CTV Toronto reporter Tamara Cherry was there when Rennie walked himself into 33 Division shortly before 10 a.m. Monday. "That's the division where this has been investigated by police since the beginning of this month," Cherry said in an interview from the station. Last week, the Salvation Army notified the public that an internal audit had revealed that approximately 100,000 toys had disappeared from its Railside Drive warehouse over a two-year period. The approximate value of the toys is $2 million. Spokesperson Maj. John Murray said a whistleblower first called attention to the missing toys in August, which triggered the internal investigation. Rennie was later fired from his post as executive director of the Railside Dr. warehouse as a result of that probe.

Over the weekend investigators found 146 pallets of toys and child care products in a Toronto-area warehouse that presumably had been rented by Rennie.

Coalition Of Religious Leaders Issues Letter Denouncing Gay Marriage: "Help! The Gov't Won't Pay Us To Oppress You!"

From a letter issued today by the heads of the Salvation Army, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Hispanic Christian Conference, the Lutheran Missouri Synod, the Mormon Church, the Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (Plus other lesser-known religious hate groups.)

By a single stroke, every law where rights depend on marital status—such as employment discrimination, employment benefits, adoption, education, healthcare, elder care, housing, property, and taxation—will change so that same-sex sexual relationships must be treated as if they were marriage. That requirement, in turn, will apply to religious people and groups in the ordinary course of their many private or public occupations and ministries—including running schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other housing facilities, providing adoption and counseling services, and many others.

So, for example, religious adoption services that place children exclusively with married couples would be required by law to place children with persons of the same sex who are civilly “married.” Religious marriage counselors would be denied their professional accreditation for refusing to provide counseling in support of same-sex “married” relationships. Religious employers who provide special health benefits to married employees would be required by law to extend those benefits to same-sex “spouses.”

Religious employers would also face lawsuits for taking any adverse employment action—no matter how modest—against an employee for the public act of obtaining a civil “marriage” with a member of the same sex. This is not idle speculation, as these sorts of situations have already come to pass. Even where religious people and groups succeed in avoiding civil liability in cases like these, they would face other government sanctions—the targeted withdrawal of government co-operation, grants, or other benefits.

Read the entire letter.

AFA's Poll Of The Day

Salvation Army Trashes Harry Potter Toys

Saying that the toys violate the organization's Christian beliefs, the Salvation Army is throwing all donated Harry Potter items in the garbage. Anything related to the Twilight movies goes in the trash too.

"I asked if these toys went to another charitable organizations but was told no, that by passing these toys on to another agency for distribution would be supporting these toys," said the man, who wouldn't give his name due to his occupation. The man called himself an admirer of the Salvation Army and was impressed by the massive quantity of toys collected in city malls, schools and police stations through the Toy Mountain campaign. But he questioned why the charity would be sifting out Harry Potter and Twilight toys, which involve sorcery and vampire themes, respectively. "I was told to withhold a six-inch Harry Potter figure, but when I picked up a plastic M-16, I was told, 'That's for the 10-year-olds,'" he said. "I was shocked...war-themed toys and toys from TV shows and movies with far more violence than Harry Potter and these were considered appropriate toys?"

Guerrilla Handbell Strikeforce

For their latest "mission," Improv Everywhere had a 13-member handbell choir descend on a unsuspecting Salvation Army bell-ringer for some uninvited accompaniment.

Salvation Army: Want Xmas Toys For Your Kids? Show Us Your Green Card

Talk about the "Christmas spirit." In Houston the Salvation Army wants proof of legal U.S. residency before giving out Xmas presents to needy kids.

In a year when more families than ever have asked for help, several programs providing Christmas gifts for needy children require at least one member of the household to be a U.S. citizen. Others ask for proof of income or rely on churches and schools to suggest recipients. The Salvation Army and a charity affiliated with the Houston Fire Department are among those that consider immigration status, asking for birth certificates or Social Security cards for the children.

The point isn't to punish the children but to ensure that their parents are either citizens, legal immigrants or working to become legal residents, said Lorugene Young, whose Outreach Program Inc. is one of three groups that distribute toys collected by firefighters. “It's not our desire to turn anyone down,” she said. “Those kids are not responsible if they are here illegally. It is the parents' responsibility.” The idea of a charity turning away children because of decisions made by their parents unsettled some immigration activists. “It is very disturbing to think a holiday like Christmas would be tainted with things like this,” said Cesar Espinoza, executive director of America for All, a Houston-based advocacy group. “Usually, people target the adults because the adults made the decision to migrate, where the children are just brought through no fault of their own.”

Just when you think that the cruelty of some Christian groups cannot be topped.....

UPDATE: The Salvation Army is desperately tweeting everybody reporting on this story, pointing us to this Houston Chronicle story which they claim is a correction.

[T]he Salvation Army, which asks for a Social Security number when registering children for its gift program, said it does so only to deter fraud. Flanagan and Salvation Army spokesman Juan Alanis spoke up Tuesday after a story in the Chronicle noted that both groups require birth certificates, Social Security numbers or other documents indicating immigration status. They said it's not their intent to discriminate. Alanis acknowledged that families cannot register for the Angel Tree program, which allows children to request specific gifts, unless one member of the family can present a Social Security number. “It is not because we seek to discriminate. The Salvation Army is not in the business of verifying legal status,” he said. “We have to be good stewards. If we let people register without checking, that could be abused.” Alanis said the agency uses Social Security numbers, rather than some other type of identifier, because “that's just the way we've found to verify it at this point. If other agencies do something different, we'd be interested in finding that out.”

How is that a "correction," exactly?