WHAT IS THE SALVATION ARMY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY?
Text by JAY RENAKER and MILES BREEN Art by ZACH DONAKER AST DECEMBER, Verde Magazine published a news story regarding the fast food chain Chick-fil-A’s decision to halt donations to organizations that had “publicly discussed their controversial views against homosexuality and same-sex marriage.” The article cited the Salvation Army, a Christian church and international charitable organization, as one of those organizations. In response to this piece, local parent and Salvation Army Advisory Board member Anna Itoi contacted Verde to request that a correction be made regarding “the reference to the Salvation Army discriminating against providing its services to the LGBT community.” Itoi explained that the organization has had a long-standing mission of offering its services to anyone without discrimination. In keeping with our responsibility to provide accurate reporting, Verde decided to take a closer look at the Salvation Army’s history and its relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. To be clear, these findings are not a comprehensive list. Verde has limited the reporting on the Salvation Army in this article to the past 16 years and solely within the U.S. We have also chosen not to include individual cases of alleged discrimination, as they are harder to verify and do not necessarily represent the policies of the Salvation Army as an organization.
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Past controversies According to an article in The Atlantic, the Salvation Army “threatened to close all their soup kitchens in New York City to protest the city’s decision to require all vendors and charities ... to adhere to all civil rights laws.” This shutdown was disputed by the Salvation Army officials. In 2014, before the United States Supreme Court voted to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, a memo addressing “LGBT issues in light of equality of marriage laws” was sent to Salvation Army officers in the Central Territory (one of the four national sub-territories) by its Commissioner, Paul R. Seiler. “For anyone in a Salvation Army ministry position, the theological belief regarding sexuality is that God has ordained marriage to be between one man and one woman and sexual activity is restricted to one’s spouse,” the memo reads. The memo also notes that members are liable for termination if they attend same-sex marriages in uniform, or officiate same-sex marriages in or out of uniform. HEADQUARTERS The Salvation Army runs a service center in Redwood City. “We are faith-based, but we serve without discrimination,” Major Roy Wild said. Photo by Jay Renaker
26 FEBRUARY 2020
