The Salvation Army’s Response to Allegations of LGBTQ Discrimination

Recently we have received many calls and emails to our offices, as well as comments on our Facebook page and through Twitter, about The Salvation Army and LGBTQ discrimination.

There are two issues about which most people are generally concerned. These include:

— First, a photo-shopped image of two Salvation Army kettle workers below a kettle sign that reads: “Gays Not Allowed.”
— Second, comments from a 2012 radio interview in which a Salvation Army officer agreed with the comment that, “gays should be put to death.”

The kettle workers photo is a complete and utter fabrication. It is false witness. And, those volunteers don’t deserve to be icons of hate.

The radio comments, however, are of greater concern. It is important to note that the Army around the world immediately rejected those comments and made public statements against them. We stand by the rejection of those comments still. We sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community and to our clients, employees, donors and volunteers for the offence caused by this misrepresentation of the Army’s views.

Here are links to a few of the responses from The Salvation Army in Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland. These were all posted publicly in June 2012, and stand today.

For more than 130 years, The Salvation Army has had the privilege of serving vulnerable people in over 400 communities across Canada. Last year, we helped over 1.8 million people. Many of the people assisted were from the LGBTQ community. And we employ individuals from the LGBTQ community.

We take allegations of discrimination very seriously. If you are aware of a situation where a person has been the target of discrimination, please let us know because this is contrary to our mission.

Our mission is to “share the love of Jesus Christ, meet human needs and be a transforming influence in the communities of our world.” We do this without discrimination. All of our social and community services are equally available. We respond solely based on people’s needs and our capability to serve.