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Kettle
Crisis
Giving to
the Salvation Army
is
donating for discrimination
by Lisa
Neff, From the Web, December 17, 2007
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I know most of the Salvation Army
bell-ringers by face, if not by name at my local grocery store. They have
volunteered with good hearts to collect money for those they see as less
fortunate during the holiday season.
Locally the bell-ringing campaign began as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey
became Friday leftovers. And now the volunteers return day after day, for
two hours at a time with their little brass bell and jolly red hats, to collect
coins and bills in their red kettle.
A week into this year’s campaign, I decided to avoid my local grocery store to
avoid the bell-ringers. I didn’t want to a have a confrontation because I
had my hands deep inside my pockets instead of reaching out with an offering.
I didn’t want to have to explain that I couldn’t contribute to an organization
that considers me a sinner because I am totally in love with my partner — we’ll
celebrate our 15th anniversary the day after Christmas.
Then last week I ran into a devoted bell-ringer at my local library and he
asked, “Why don’t you volunteer to ring the bell?” I shrugged and used the
reporter’s easy scapegoat, “I can’t. I have to remain objective.”
That’s true, in part. I don’t engage in a lot of public activities because
I cover this small community full-time for a local newspaper. But of
course I’m not objective on the subject of the Salvation Army. How could I
be?
Probably most people who ring the bell or drop a dollar in the kettle don’t
think of the Salvation Army’s “Articles of War,” the beliefs each “Salvationist”
must pledge to uphold as a new recruit in the evangelical Christian Army.
They think instead of the heat rising from a bowl of soup in a Sally A kitchen.
One belief of Salvationists is “the Salvation Army does not consider same-sex
orientation blameworthy in itself. Homosexual conduct, like heterosexual
conduct, requires individual responsibility and must be guided by the light of
scriptural teaching.
“Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex. The
Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is
primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way
of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as
an alternative to, heterosexual marriage.”
The next time I ran into the bell-ringer who had asked me to ring a bell, I told
him that he was raising money for perhaps life-saving rescue work — in places
devastated by natural or man-made disaster, in cold U.S. cities where men, women
and children lack shelter and food. But I also told him that in a
not-too-distant past, the Salvation Army lobbied the Bush administration to give
federally-funded faith-based groups the go-ahead to discriminate against people
like me. The Salvation Army spends money on soup kitchens and toys for
tots, but it also has spent money on Beltway lobbying against gay equality.
The way he looked. I felt like Scrooge. I felt like I did when I was
5 years old and told my still-believing brother that Santa Claus was
make-believe.
“So what are we supposed to do?” he asked. “How do we help people?
How do we keep the spirit of Christmas?”
I shrugged again. I didn’t know.
I’ve been thinking hard about his questions.
I’ve considered taking up a shift as a bell-ringer and making sure the leaders
of my local Salvation Army chapter know who I am, who I love, and how much I
appreciate the good work and the promise to serve all but that I disagree with
the misguided beliefs and cruel politics.
But that idea sets off bells in my head and rings false in my heart. I
just know that I can’t ring the bell. I can’t contribute to the red
kettle. I can’t donate for discrimination.
What I can do is pledge that every time I pass by the red kettle that I will
contribute to campaigns dedicated to promoting peace and goodwill — and
equality. That won’t be as easy as giving at the grocery store, but it
will feed the Christmas spirit.
I don’t want to play Scrooge.
I want to play Santa.
Happy holidays.
Lisa Neff is a
reporter with The Islander, a weekly newspaper on Anna Maria Island, Fl.
She has worked for more than 20 years in journalism. She is the former
managing editor of the Chicago Free Press, a GLBT newsweekly she helped found in
1999, and has also worked for the Lesbian and Gay News-Telegraph in St. Louis,
as well as for The Advocate. Email her at
lmneff@tampabay.rr.com.
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