Posted on 12/14/2001 6:10:51 PM PST by Utah Girl
NEW YORK (AP) The Salvation Army's red kettles, an abiding symbol of holiday good will, are at the center of a battle over gay rights this Christmas season.
Complaining of bias by the Christian charity, some gay-rights supporters are dropping protest notes in the kettles instead of cash. In response, conservative groups are urging extra donations as a show of solidarity.
The protest campaign started in Flint, Mich. but has since spread to many states after the Salvation Army's national leadership last month rescinded a decision by its 13-state Western branch to offer health benefits to domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees.
"It seemed so mean," said Mary Scholl, mother of a gay man, who started the campaign along with her colleagues in the Flint branch of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
Since then, Scholl said, she has received scores of messages from across the country, some supportive, others hostile. "I've had 100 e-mails from people telling me I'm going to hell," she said.
The Washington headquarters of Scholl's organization known as PFLAG has taken up the cause. Its Internet site shows supporters how to make copies of the protest notes, which vaguely resemble $5 bills.
"I would have donated $5," the note says. "But the Salvation Army's decision to discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered employees prevents my donation now and in the future."
PFLAG's program and policy director, Cynthia Newcomer, said supporters are being asked to donate to charities that provide domestic-partner benefits.
At the Salvation Army's national headquarters in Alexandria, Va., officials say the protest appears to have caused little financial damage. They make no apologies for a policy that limits family health benefits to married couples and their dependent children.
"We're a Christian organization we don't provide those benefits for heterosexual couples that aren't married," said Lt. Col. Tom Jones, the Salvation Army's community relations and development secretary.
The charity does not ask its 45,000 employees, nor those who seek its services, about their sexual orientation, Jones said.
"The only question we ask is, 'Do you need our help?"' he said.
Some conservative activists, angered by the protest campaign, have offered to match every protest note placed in a kettle with a real $5 bill.
The protest notes "are the very currency of intolerance," said Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan. "They're attacking a Christian organization in the holiest season of the Christian faith."
Glenn said gay-rights activists in some states rather than using the PFLAG protest notes are using more realistic-looking fake bills that might violate counterfeiting laws.
A national conservative group, Concerned Women for America, is urging its supporters to place a donation in a Salvation Army kettle along with a note praising the charity for "honoring God's word."
"The Salvation Army will pay a heavy price as liberals begin to assail them for their Biblical stand in favor of marriage and family," said Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women. "We must rally to their support."
Among gay-rights activists supporting the protest, there are some mixed feelings about the target.
"It's a tough issue,' said Cathy Renna, spokeswoman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "The Salvation Army does good work. But at the same time, they're not upholding their mission if this is how they treat their employees."
The Human Rights Campaign, a major gay-rights lobbying groups, says it supports efforts to change Salvation Army policy but is not urging its members to join the protest.
The controversy has similarities with the ongoing debate over the Boys Scouts, another long-respected organization that incurred the wrath of gay-rights advocates because it refuses to let openly gay men be Scout leaders.
Both organizations have become the target of protests, and in turn have become rallying points for conservatives who oppose gay-rights activism.
Newcomer said PFLAG and Salvation Army officials have been meeting to see if their dispute can be resolved.
"Public opinion on gay and lesbian issues has shifted," she said. "The Boy Scouts and the Salvation Army are going to have to catch up with the rest of the country."
The Army is a church. What do you call folks who want to change what a church believes?
BTW, I gotta get that book by Goldberg too. Have heard him on two talk shows now and it sounds great - even if he is a lib!
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