5 Replies to “Give to GoodWill (Not Salvation Army)”

  1. I’ve been to Salvation Army thrift stores and I’ve seen plenty of religious tracts, Bibles, etc., so this doesn’t shock me.

    On the other hand, in the depressed urban community where I live, there just aren’t many other places helping the poor in the way the Salvation Army helps — arranging emergency shelter and food, running afterschool programs for youth, etc.

    For instance, I watched the video, and it suggests I donate to “Doctors Without Borders” — well, in small working-class towns in Pennsyltucky, we don’t see “Doctors Without Borders,” but we do see the local Sallie Ann whenever someone’s house burns down.

    Although the international Salvation Army may be run a bunch of right-wingers, I have never seen our local Salvation Army insist that someone convert to evangelical Christianity before providing them with help. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen somewhere, but it doesn’t happen here.

    Just my two cents.

  2. It seems like there are lots of organizations which I previously saw as maybe-conservative-but-nice-and-anyway-apolitical, which once showed a sort of benign neglect on LGBT issues… but which have, in the last several years, moved toward being aggressive conservative cultural warriors, actively trying to punish LGBT people. The Salvation Army is one good example; the Boy Scouts of America is another.

    I don’t know if culture warriors have infiltrated the groups’ leadership, or if culture warriors outside the groups have successfully projected an “if you’re not for us you’re against us” attitude, or if the benign neglect was only in my perception and I’ve just become aware of the situation.

  3. You’ve got a point, but at the same time, GoodWill’s employment policies are GREAT, & if the Salvation Army discriminates in providing support, I’m going to guess they are not super great about employing LGBTQ people, & Good Will is.

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