Press

Salvation Army, White House collaboration shows what's wrong with Bush's so-called faith-based initiatives

The secret discussions between the Bush White House and the Salvation Army to allow government-funded charitable organizations to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation should serve as a red flag to anyone wondering whether tax dollars should go to religious organizations, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said today.

According to a confidential memo obtained by the Washington Post, the Salvation Army has agreed to spend between $88,000 and $110,000 a month lobbying in favor of George W. Bush's so-called "charitable choice" initiatives. In exchange, according to the Post report, the White House will issue a federal guideline - thus bypassing Congress - that will override local and state nondiscrimination ordinances and will allow taxpayer-funded religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

"This back room deal exposes the rank hypocrisy of the Salvation Army, whose own mission statement asserts that its charge is 'to meet human needs...without discrimination,'" said Lorri L. Jean, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "It's appalling that a so-called Christian institution would seek to mislead others by hiding their bigotry under the guise of charity and religious principles. And the White House is involved not only in plotting a way to promote bigotry, but also in asking the American people to pay for discrimination with our tax dollars."

Jean added that "charitable choice" proposals pose a fundamental threat to all communities that face discrimination. "While the immediate target is gay and lesbian people - both employees of charitable institutions and those seeking access to social services from such institutions - all employees and clients are threatened who may have views that differ from the religious institutions," she said. "This violates one of the key principles upon which our nation was founded - the separation of church and state."

Jean said the secret plan to carve out an exemption to local and state nondiscrimination ordinances violates the concept of local control that supposedly is cherished by the White House and conservatives in Congress. She noted that 12 states and more than 230 towns, cities, counties and school districts have sexual orientation nondiscrimination ordinances.

"The American people, regardless of political party or ideology, overwhelmingly oppose employment discrimination based on sexual orientation," Jean said. "We demand that Bush disavow this secret deal that could cost thousands of people their jobs. And if Bush won't do this, we demand that members of Congress step up and do it for him."

For more information on Bush's proposed "faith-based" initiatives, please visit www.ngltf.org/federal/wwfaith.htm.

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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.