are there any alternatives to the salvation army?
Remember that the Salvation Army behaves differently depending on the nation they're in. The US Salvation Army has different policies to the British one, which has different policies to the Australian one.
Weird, yep, looks like they're just different flavors of bigot bucket and you should find a better organization.
When I was homeless, I stayed at a Salvation Army shelter. They knew I was trans and that my legal gender is male, but they put me in the women and families area. I never got misgendered or disrespected while I was there.
gonna be honest, as difficult as it is to find housing for single men in need, they probably did you a favor.
That is, last I checked, against policy. Someone decided personally to have a little mutiny and not be a dick.
It seemed like everyone knew and was cool about it. I was on a first name basis with all the staff and residents. I had to go to the front office every night to get my HRT for the first few weeks until I saw a doctor and got a note that says I can take my own medication. I never had a problem getting my estrogen pills. And at one point a crazy guy developed a harmless obsession with me and kept bugging the staff about seeing me. They told him he's not allowed in the women's and families area and he just has to wait until I come to the mess hall for lunch or dinner. He wanted my help finding aliens or something, the point is all the staff knew where I was and that I was supposed to be there because I'm a girl
I looked it up
https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/about-us/inclusion/
https://others.org.au/news/2023/02/07/salvos-show-their-support-at-melbourne-pride-march/
They said they're sorry and they're trying to do better, and I think they are doing better
Interesting. Their US site has absolutely no mention of LGBTQ+ that I can find. I wonder if the Australian version has some autonomy.
They're also still anti abortion in most cases, at least on the US site
https://www.salvationarmy.org/resources/international-positional-statement-abortion
Considering the state of the States, I wouldn't be surprised if those policies were removed in the recent times.
I wouldn't be shocked if there was a Trump "truth" that threatened them.
Thats not the only problem with them. A lot of times local branches will allow their bell-ringers to skim a little out of the donation bucket. Or more than a little. I can't get behind an organization that doesn't punish stealing charitable donations for yourself.
Help is help
Better than being on the streets
I hate hearing that annoying bell in front of every store.
I'm starting to get a bit done with moralizing though. Not like they are present in my country as far as I know, but if someone gets to sleep in a house instead of the street in the winter at the price of homophobia still existing and maybe someone in that same house being homophobic I'm not going to pretend that something despicable has just happened.
Sure in a good world we don't need a charity doing such an important job to be bigoted but it's not like the meme says who to donate to instead.
They refuse to let overtly LGBTQ people stay and demand that gay men break up with their boyfriends by policy. People have frozen to death outside their centers after being denied entry or being kicked out for being LGBTQ as a result of their bigoted policies.
Homeless shelters are usually locally run, and I'm sure your local Food Pantry or something would appreciate a donation (especially this time of the year), but if you want to help LGBTQ people worldwide, you could do worse than donating here: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
there's other shelters that salvation army actively antagonizes and lobbies against so they can have a monopoly on coercing the homeless into swearing to be devout to the salvation army's christofascist views.
Do you have a link? I was having a discussion with someone about this.
when i went looking for one all i could find was stories about how denver cancelled their salvation army contracts after violent clashes
Don't donate cash to anyone, simple as. Make deliberate choices about who you donate to, do research, budget it, keep receipts, regardless of which organisation shows up at your grocery store. You should always give money to beggars, just not to predatory charities.
I’ve written my grocery store asking them to remove the bigot bucket
Here in the SF Bay Area, most of the malls and stores don't allow the Salvation Army or the Hari Krishnas or any group to solicit. I don't even recall a Girl Scout Troupe selling cookies. I still keep the "Don't donate" Vouchers in my wallet just in case I run across a bell ringer in front of a Chick-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby that somehow got approved by the local planning commission.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ec/23/23/ec23236932789ab99222c7df093eefdd.jpg
Refusing to donate to the salvation army and then going to hobby lobby or chik fil a is pretty wild
Those stores are also located in strip mall areas with other stores, they could just be walking by.
i think they were just trying to give examples of shitty places that allow SA solicitors
Context?
In addition to what other people have chimed in, the Salvation Army used to (might still? Last article was in 2014) not pay female workers directly. They would make out their paycheck to the worker's husband. Because women are property.
I've personally been affected by Salvation Army practices. See, they used to deliver toys to disadvantaged kids around the holidays but those toys come with strings. Not only did they show up to my house when my parents were clearly not home they literally dangled toys in front of me and my siblings I was babysitting and refused to give them to us unless we said we would accept Jesus.
We were not a Christian family. In fact at the time most of us were part of a different religion (my dad was always agnostic). They cornered a gaggle of known non-Christian minors when they were alone and vulnerable. They manipulated and forced me to say I accepted Jesus so that my siblings could have presents.
Fuck the Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army has, throughout it's history, stuck with the anti-gay stance of it's Christian roots, and for some reason everybody remembered that this season.
they, additionally, are against labor unions and secular soup kitchens. they claim to want to help people, but they won't help people unless it feeds their savior complex and control over congregation.
the funny part to me is that jesus reads as an anti-authoritarian. he preaches that it is better to help the hungry than to be dogmatic about orthodoxy. makes the salvation army seem pretty unchristian
if this were a socialist country, we would've had a better alternative to the salvation army. seriously!
Most years people keep forgetting. There's a lot going on these days, it's easy to lose track.
The salvation army is a big church and big churches don't like LGBT. They are typically out in force this time of year with the red buckets in front of a lot of big box stores in the US.
The salvation army is a big church and big churches don’t like LGBT.
There are similarly big churches to the Salvation Army that are inclusive of LGBTQ+, please don't spread misinformation.
even if there are small examples of judeo-christian denominations being tolerant of LGBTQ+ communities, the VAST majority are not and do more than enough harm to cancel out any good being done.
the VAST majority are not and do more than enough harm to cancel out any good being done.
The good ones do exist in the many millions - they don't deserve hate and I believe they deserve recognition for their inclusivity and activism. That's all I gotta say.
i think the claim that big churches tend to be homophobic is a valid statement.
white American Christians are a scary bunch.
It's untrue as a generalization.
I'm a gay person who has been exposed first-hand to the ugly side of Christianity, so I am speaking from that knowing and experience. I am not a Christian.
the statement "all big churches are homophobic" would be a generalisation. "most big churches are homophobic" would not be.
I'm not "spreading misinformation", I'm sharing my lived experience. I'm aware that I haven't personally checked with every single church but my experience is typically that they all say we're god's creation and should be respectful, but there's always that whispered "except them".
Around December in the US, the Salvation Army(A Christian group with a bigoted history and overpriced secondhand goods stores) set up outside stores, ringing hand bells and asking for donations.
They're everywhere that allow them. You cannot escape the ringing bells.
Community Rules
You must post before you leave
Be nice. Assume others have good intent (within reason).
Block or ignore posts, comments, and users that irritate you in some way rather than engaging. Report if they are actually breaking community rules.
Use content warnings and/or mark as NSFW when appropriate. Most posts with content warnings likely need to be marked NSFW.
Most 196 posts are memes, shitposts, cute images, or even just recent things that happened, etc. There is no real theme, but try to avoid posts that are very inflammatory, offensive, very low quality, or very "off topic".
Bigotry is not allowed, this includes (but is not limited to): Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexism, Abelism, Classism, or discrimination based on things like Ethnicity, Nationality, Language, or Religion.
Avoid shilling for corporations, posting advertisements, or promoting exploitation of workers.
Proselytization, support, or defense of authoritarianism is not welcome. This includes but is not limited to: imperialism, nationalism, genocide denial, ethnic or racial supremacy, fascism, Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.
Avoid AI generated content.
Avoid misinformation.
Avoid incomprehensible posts.
No threats or personal attacks.
No spam.
Moderator Guidelines
